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THE  CHURCH  AND  INDUSTRIAL 
RECONSTRUCTION 


FINAL  REPORTS  OF  THE  COMMITTJSE  ON  THE 
WAR  AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  OUTLOOK 

Religion  among  American  Men:  As  Revealed  by  a  Study  of 
Conditions  in  the  Army.     (Ready) 

The  Missionary  Outlook  in  the  Light  of  the  War.    (Ready) 

The  Church  and  Industrial  Reconstruction.     (Ready) 

The  Teaching  Work  of  the  Church. 

Principles  of  Christian  Unity. 


THE  CHURCH 
AND  INDUSTRIAL 
RECONSTRUCTION 


THE  COMMITTEE  ON  THE  WAR 
AND  THE  RELIGIOUS  OUTLOOK 


ASSOCIATION    PRESS 

New    York:    347    Madison    Avenue 
1924 


Copyright,  1920,  by 
WzirUAM  Adams  BRO\m 


CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Editorial  Preface , vii 

Introduction i 

1.  The  Christian  Interest  in  Industrial  Problems I 

2.  The  Christian  Approach  to  Industrial  Problems  .  .  4 
Chapter 

I.  The  Christian  Ideal  for  Society 9 

1.  The  Christian  Teaching  as  to  the  Worth  of  Every 

Personality  as  a  Child  of  God 12 

2.  The  Christian  Teaching  as  to  Brotherhood  as  the 

Primary  Relation  between  Man  and  Man 17 

3.  The  Christian  Teaching  as  to  the  Law  of  Service.  .     23 

4.  Consequences  for  the  Christian  Social  Ideal 31 

II.  Unchristian   Aspects   of   the   Present   Industrial 

Order 34 

1.  Aspects  of  Our  Industrial  Order  Inconsistent  with 

the  Sacredness  of  Personality 36 

a.  In  Social  Attitude:  An  Impersonal  View  of  Labor    36 

b.  In  Objective  Results:  Dwarfing  of  Personality.  .     39 

(i)  Through  Lack  of  Continuous  Opportunity 
to  Work 

(2)  Through  Inadequate  Income 

(3)  Through  Inadequate  Leisure 

(4)  Dwarfing  the  Personalities  of  the  Future 

(a)  Through  Child  Labor 

(b)  Through  Failure  to  Protect  Women 

Workers 

2.  Aspects  of  Our  Industrial  Order  Inconsistent  with 

the  Principle  of  Brotherhood 58 

a.  In   Social  Attitude:  A   Selfish  and   Divisive 

"^  Spirit  in  the  Productive  Process 58 

b.  In  Objective  Results:  Extreme  Inequalities  in 

the  Distribution  of  Wealth 63 

3.  Aspects  of  Our  Industrial  Order  Inconsistent  with 

the  Duty  of  Service 68 

a.  In  Social  Attitude:  Overemphasis  on  Motive 

of  Self-interest 69 

b.  In   Objective  Results:   An   Unsocial   Use  of 

Economic  Power 71 

(i)  Non-Serving  Groups 

(2)  Selfish  Autocracy  in  Industry 

4.  The  Protest  of  Christianity  and  the  Protest  of  the 

Labor  Movement 76 

III.  The  Christian  Attitude  toward  the  System  as  a 

Whole 81 

1.  Private  Property 85 

2.  The  Wage  System 90 

3.  Competition 95 

4.  The  Wrong  Motive  on  Which  the  System  Depends  104 

V 


vi  CONTENTS 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

IV.  The  Christian  Method  of  Social  Betterment io8 

1.  By  Developing  the  Motive  of  Love 109 

2.  By  Promoting  the  Attitude  of  Faith 113 

3.  By  Directing  Growth  through  Education 117 

4.  Problems  of  Application 120 

V.   Present  Practicable  Steps  toward  a  More  Chris- 
tian Industrial  Order 132 

1.  Measures  Designed  to  Develop  and  Protect  Per- 

sonality      134 

a.  Providing  Security  against  Unemployment.  .  .    134 

b.  Providing  Income  for  All  Sufficient  for  Self- 

Realization 138 

c.  Providing  Leisure  for  All  Sufficient  for  Self- 

Realization 143 

d.  Protecting  the  Personalities  of  the  Future.  .  .    147 

(i)  Safeguarding  Children  from  Exploitation 
(2)  Safeguarding  Women  in  Industry 

2.  Securing  a  Democratic  Organization  of  Industry 

More  Consistent  with  Brotherhood.  .  .  • 152 

3.  Securing  a  Distribution  of  Profits  More  Consistent 

with  the  Principle  of  Service 166 

VI.  The  Question  of  the  Longer  Future 171 

1.  An  Increasing  Extension  of  Social  Control 171 

2.  Need  for  Education  in  Cooperation .  .  .  .  177 

3.  A  New  Motive  in  Industry  the  Supreme  Need 182 

VII.   What    Individual    Christians   Can    Do   to    Chris- 
tianize the  Industrial  Order. 188 

1.  Christians  as  Employers 192 

2.  Christians  as  Investors 196 

3.  Christians  as  Employes 201 

4.  Christians  as  Consumers 206 

5.  Christians  as  Citizens 208 

VIII..  What  the   Church   Can   Do  to    Christianize  the 

Industrial  Order 211 

1.  Winning  Men  to  the  Christian  Ideal 214 

a.  Social  Evangelism 216 

b.  Religious  Education 218 

2.  Promoting  an  Understanding  of  the  Social  Con- 

ditions to  Which  Christian  Principles  Are 

to  Be  Applied 223 

a.  Organized  Research 225 

b.  The  Church  Forum 229 

c.  Fraternal  Relations  with  Labor  Organizations  231 

d.  The  Social  Service  Commission 232 

3.  Illustrating  the   Christian   Ideal  in  the  Church's 

Corporate  Life 233 

Appendix     I.     The    Historic    Attitude    of    the    Church    to 

Economic  Questions 239 

Appendix    II.     Selected    Bibliography    on    the    Church   and 

Industrial  Reconstruction 273 

Appendix  III.     The  Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious 

Outlook 287 

Index 291 


EDITORIAL  PREFACE 

This  volume  is  the  third  in  a  series  of  reports  that  is 
being  issued  by  the  Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Re- 
ligious Outlook,  an  interdenominational  group  appointed 
by  the  joint  action  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in  America  and  the  General  War-Time  Com- 
mission of  the  Churches  "to  consider  the  state  of  religion 
as  revealed  or  affected  by  the  war,  with  special  reference 
to  the  duty  and  opportunity  of  the  Churches."^ 

In  the  preparation  of  this  report  on  The  Church  and 
Industrial  Reconstruction  the  Committee  on  the  War 
and  the  Religious  Outlook  has  been  greatly  assisted  by  a 
special  subcommittee  whose  counsel  and  criticism  have 
been  invaluable.  President  W.  H.  P.  Faunce  served  as 
the  convener  of  this  group  and  with  him  were  associated 
the  following:  Rev.  William  Adams  Brown,  George 
W.  Coleman,  Dr.  Edward  T.  Devine,  Harold  A.  Hatch, 
Rev.  F.  Ernest  Johnson,  President  Henry  Churchill  King, 
Rev.  Frederick  H.  Knubel,  Dean  Shailer  Mathews, 
Bishop  Francis  J.  McConnell,  Rev.  J.  Howard  Melish, 
Rev.  Frank  Mason  North,  George  Foster  Peabody,  Pro- 
fessor Herbert  N.  Shenton,  Miss  Florence  Simms,  Pro- 
fessor Alva  W.  Taylor,  Rev.  Worth  M.  Tippy.  To  scores 
of  others,  including  business  men,  manufacturers,  and 
labor  leaders,  as  well  as  teachers,  social  workers,  and 
ministers,  the  Committee  is  indebted  for  many  fruitful 
suggestions  and  constructive  criticism. 

The  report  as  a  whole  has  been  drafted  by  the  Secre- 
tary of  the  Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious 
Outlook.  In  the  preliminary  development  of  certain 
chapters  President  Faunce,  Professor  Taylor,  Mr.  Shen- 

^For  a  statement  concerning  the  history  and  work  of  the  Com- 
mittee see  Appendix  III  of  this  volume. 

vii 


vlii  EDITORIAL  PREFACE 

ton,  and  Dr.  Melish  gave  helpful  assistance.  Contribu- 
tions of  a  more  specific  kind  were  made  by  Rev.  F. 
Ernest  Johnson  in  a  carefully  prepared  treatment  of 
industrial  democracy;  by  Miss  Florence  Simms  in  the 
consideration  of  the  problems  of  v^omen  in  industry;  by 
Professor  W.  E.  Hocking,  in  the  analysis  of  the  section 
on  competition.  Rev.  Frank  M.  Crouch  has  submitted, 
at  the  request  of  the  Committee,  a  manuscript  on  The 
Historical  Attitude  of  the  Church  toward  Economic 
Questions,  which  is  printed  as  a  special  supplement  over 
his  own  signature  (Appendix  I). 

To  Professor  Brown  is  due  special  recognition  for  out- 
lining the  scope  of  the  report,  for  detailed  analysis  of 
Chapters  I  and  IV,  and  for  constant  counsel  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  whole  study. 

For  all  statements  in  the  report  the  Secretary,  having 
drafted  the  final  manuscript,  is  alone  responsible.  Its 
general  content,  however,  is  endorsed  by  the  Committee 
as  a  whole,  which  has  authorized  its  publication. 

Samuel  McCrea  Cavert^ 
June  I,  1920.  Secretary. 

Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook 

Mrs.  Fred  S.  Bennett  Rev.  Charles   S.  Macfarland 

Rev.  William  Adams  Brown        Pres.  William  D.  Mackenzie 
Miss  Mabel  Cratty  Dean  Shailer  Mathews 

George  W.  Coleman  Dr.  John  R.  Mott 

Pres.  W.  H.  P.  Faunce  Rev.  Frank  Mason  North 

Rev.  Harry  Emerson  Fosdick      Dr.  Ernest  C.  Richardson 
Rev.  Charles  W.  Gilkey  Very  Rev.  Howard  C.  Robbins 

Frederick  Harris  Rt.  Rev.  Logan  H.  Roots 

Prof.  W.  E.  Hocking  Dr.  Robert  E.  Speer 

Rev.  Samuel  G.  Inman  Rev.  Anson  Phelps  Stokes 

Prof.  Charles  M.  Jacobs  Rev.  James  I.  Vance 

Pres.  Henry  Churchill  King  Very  Rev.  Henry  B.  Washburn 

Bishop  Walter  R.  Lambuth  Pres.  Mary  E.  Wooley 

Bishop  Francis  J.  McConnell        Prof.  Henry  B.  Wright 
Rev.  William  Adams  Brown,  Chairman 
Pres.  Henry  Churchill  King,  Vice-Chairman 
Rev.  Charles  W.  Gilkey,  Vice-Chairman 
Rev.  Samuel  McCrea  Cavert,  Secretary 
105  East  22d  Street,  New  York,  N.  Y. 


INTRODUCTION 

The  industrial  unrest  and  uncertainty  of  the  period 
following  the  World  War  bring  to  the  Christian  Church 
an  imperative  summons  and  a  boundless  opportunity.  If 
it  be  true  that  chaotic  conditions  exist  and  the  whole 
earth  at  times  seems  "without  form  and  void/'  it  is  also 
true  that  again  the  Spirit  of  God  "moves  on  the  face  of 
the  waters/'  That  Spirit  now  calls  all  Christian  men 
and  women  to  earnest  thought,  to  repentance  for  wrongs 
in  which  they  have  unwittingly  shared  or  against  which 
they  have  made  no  effective  protest,  and  to  resolute 
action.  It  summons  the  Church  to  reconsider  its  own 
Gospel,  to  redefine  its  attitude  toward  the  present  social 
order,  and  to  interpret  for  our  time  the  way  of  life 
involved  in  Christian  discipleship. 

The  challenge  to  the  Church  is  all  the  stronger  because 
the  labor  movement  itself  reflects  a  new  interest  in  the 
spiritual  side  of  life.  Slowly  but  surely  its  center  of 
gravity  has  been  shifting.  More  and  more  men  are 
coming  to  see  the  importance  of  the  ideal  factors  in  life. 
It  is  not  money  as  such  that  they  value  most,  but  in- 
tangible goods  like  freedom,  power,  brotherhood,  the 
opportunity  for  self-expression,  for  making  themselves 
felt  in  the  great  currents  of  thought  and  life.  "The 
world-wide  industrial  unrest,"  it  has  been  well  said,  "is 
not  simply  the  rumbling  of  empty  stomachs;  it  is  the 
stirring  of  the  soul  of  man."  Until  one  perceives  this  he 
cannot  understand  the  latest  pronouncements  of  the  labor 
leaders.  Self -development  in  the  widest  sense  of  the 
term  is  their  theme. 

I.  The  Christian  Interest  ii^  Industrial  Problems 

This  new  attitude  gives  the  Church  her  opportunity 
to  be  heard  in  industrial  questions.  If  these  had  to 
do  simply  with  the  length  of  time  a  man  should  work  and 


^        ,'  [     mtRODUCTION 

the  amount  he  should  be  paid  for  it,  the  Church  might 
conceivably  hold  aloof.  But  if  hours  and  wages  are 
simply  symbols  of  spiritual  realities  like  leisure  and 
opportunity  and  influence,  if  in  and  through  the  conflict 
for  material  goods  a  spiritual  struggle  for  unseen  values 
is  going  on,  then  the  Church  has  not  only  the  right  but 
the  duty  to  intervene.  For  she  claims  to  have  a  message 
to  the  spirit  of  man  as  man,  and  if  her  claim  is  justified 
we  should  expect  to  find  men  turning  to  her  for  help. 
Whether  they  turn  or  not,  it  is  her  duty  to  be  ready.  A 
new  crisis  is  upon  us,  not  less  momentous  than  that  of 
the  war,  even  though  less  dramatic,  and  this  time  it  is 
not  too  late  for  the  Church  to  make  a  distinctive  contribu- 
tion if  she  see  her  duty  clearly  and  dare  to  do  it. 

But  that  she  may  act  aright  she  must  see  clearly.  It  is 
as  a  help  to  this  primary  duty  that  this  report  is  offered. 
Its  sphere  is  the  industrial  situation,  using  that  term  in 
the  largest  sense  to  include  the  whole  group  of  questions 
Avhich  grow  out  of  the  relations  of  men  to  one  another 
as  producers  and  consumers  of  material  goods.  We 
shall  ask  what  Christian  principles  bear  upon  industrial 
problenjis,  what  they  would  require  if  consistently  applied, 
how  far  and  for  what  reason  our  existing  industrial  order 
contains  features  which  are  unchristian,  and  what  can  be 
done  by  individual  Christians  and  by  the  Church  in  its 
corporate  capacity  to  secure  a  better  order.  What  is  here 
offered,  therefore,  is  not  a  treatise  on  political  economy 
or  social  reform  but  an  analysis  of  Christian  principles, 
as  they  bear  upon  economic  problems,  and  the  duty  of 
Christians  and  of  the  Church  in  the  present  emergency. 

This  must  be  the  excuse  for  adding  one  more  to  the 
Tnany  excellent  pronouncements  which  have  recently  been 
made  upon  the  subject  of  industry  by  religious  bodies.^ 
Prom  the  point  of  view  of  the  Church  most  of  these 


*A   list  of  the   more   important   of   these  pronouncements   of 
religious  bodies  on  industrial  problems  is  printed  in  an  appendix 


to  this  volume. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

pronouncements  are  inadequate  in  one  of  two  respects. 
Either  they  lay  down  Christian  principles  in  so  general 
a  form  that  no  one  can  object  to  them,  or  they  seek 
to  commit  the  Church  to  some  definite  social  program 
without  clearly  showing  how  it  follows  from  Christian 
principles  and  in  what  way  Christians  as  Christians  can 
contribute  to  it  by  reason  of  their  Christianity.^  There 
would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  room  for  a  fresh  treatment 
of  the  subject,  which  shall  attempt  to  carry  the  discussion 
one  step  further  by  focusing  attention  upon  a  considera- 
tion of  what  follows  when  one  takes  his  stand  frankly 
within  the  Christian  religion. 

This  is  necessary  if  the  Church  is  to  make  any  dis- 
tinctive and  lasting  contribution  to  the  social  thought  of 
our  time.  In  the  pressure  of  instant  need  we  are  tempted 
to  turn  to  the  first  thing  that  lies  at  hand  without  con- 
sidering its  remoter  consequences.  But  Christianity  is 
not  a  new  religion.  It  is  the  custodian  of  a  definite  group 
of  ideals  and  principles.  Centuries  ago  it  was  committed 
by  its  Master  to  a  certain  conception  of  life,  a  certain 
ideal  for  society.  Not  always  or  even  often  has  it  lived 
up  to  this  ideal,  but  it  has  not  ceased  to  proclaim  it.  It 
is  this  ideal  and  no  other  that  this  report  seeks  to  define 
in  its  implication  for  the  industrial  life  of  today.^ 


^A  notable  exception  is  the  Report  of  'the  Archbishops'  Fifth 
Committee  of  Inquiry  on  Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems 
(London,  1918).  The  Committee  which  drafted  this  report  is 
well  aware  of  the  problems  which  the  existing  situation  sets  to 
the  Church.  It  begins  its  investigation  with  a  discussion  of 
Christian  principles  and  their  social  application.  But  the  dis- 
cussion, excellent  as  it  is,  is  of  a  very  general  character  and 
the  principles  which  it  lays  down  as  guiding  Christians  in  their 
attitude  to  industrial  questions  are  not  as  definitely  related  to  the 
specific  evils  and  abuses  with  which  the  report  deals  as  the  ideal 
of  its  authors  would  render  desirable.  Moreover,  the  report 
deals  with  conditions  in  England,  and  these  differ  in  significant 
respects  from  those  which  obtain  in  this  country. 

^It  should  be  clear,  therefore,  that  in  using  the  word  "recon- 
struction" in  the  title  of  this  report  we  are  not  thinking  of  any- 
thing so  simple  as  restoration  of  pre-war  conditions.  Our 
inquiry  has  to  do  with  the  foundations  on  which  our  industrial 
order  should  be  built. 


4  INTRODUCTION 

We  shall  not,  then,  inquire  what  social  reforms  are 
practicable  and  afterwards  give  them  the  sanction  of  a 
Christian  label.  Our  inquiry  will  rather  proceed  from  a 
reconsideration  of  the  Christian  Gospel  itself  as  it  bears 
upon  the  perplexing  conditions  of  the  present  day.  We 
shall  ask  ourselves  what  it  demands  of  and  for  man  and 
bring  these  demands  with  us  as  our  standard  for  judging 
the  existing  order.  Our  aim  will  be  to  discover  so  far  as 
possible  what  a  genuine  application  of  Christian  prin- 
ciples to  our  industrial  life  would  require.  This  the 
Church  must  do  fearlessly,  courageously,  without  respect 
of  persons  or  classes — speaking  the  truth  in  love,  indeed, 
but  holding  back  nothing  that  belongs  to  the  full  counsel 
of  God.  It  must  hold  up  the  Christian  standpoint,  which 
is  that  of  humanity  as  a  whole,  considered  in  the  light 
of  the  divine  purpose  for  all  men,  as  revealed  by  the 
Man  of  men,  Jesus  Christ. 

At  the  outset  of  this  inquiry  we  gladly  recognize  that 
the  social  principles  which  we  call  Christian  are  not  the 
exclusive  possession  of  Christianity.  Brotherhood,  jus- 
tice, and  freedom,  for  example,  are  ideals  which  are  held 
by  many  who  are  not  consciously  followers  of  Christ 
and  which  in  varying  measure  have  found  expression  in 
other  social  philosophies.  Nevertheless,  there  is  some- 
thing in  the  way  Christians  understand  these  principles 
which  grows  out  of  the  peculiar  nature  and  history  of  the 
Christian  religion.  And  it  is  this  distinctive  quality  in 
the  Christian  approach,  as  distinguished  from  other  ap- 
proaches to  the  industrial  problem,  that  we  need  to  have 
in  mind  as  the  background  of  our  study. 

2.  The  Christian  Approach  to  Industrial  Problems 

What  is  fundamentally  distinctive  of  Christianity  is 
that  it  believes  that  the  qualities  which  characterize  its 
social  ideal  are  rooted  in  a  relationship  between  man 
and  God  and  are  to  be  realized  through  a  process  of  moral 
transformation  centering  in  Jesus  Christ.     The  Christian 


INTRODUCTION  S 

holds  that  the  great  need  of  men  is  for  moral  renewal, 
because  he  sees  radically  evil  tendencies  which  are 
thwarting  man's  welfare  and  preventing  him  from  being 
his  best  self.  And  these  influences  are  not  confined  to 
the  economic  realm.  To  the  Christian,  therefore,  the 
industrial  problem  is  not  an  isolated  question,  but  one 
aspect  of  the  larger  problem  of  living  according  to  the 
will  of  God  and  in  the  spirit  of  Christ.  To  aim  at  a 
Christian  industrial  order  is  to  try  to  realize  in  a  single 
group  of  human  relationships  a  divine  ideal  which  affects 
the  entire  life  of  men. 

Hence  the  Christian  emphasis  is  primarily  on  the  need 
of  a  change  in  the  motive  and  spirit  of  men's  lives.  For 
Christianity  repentance  is  always  the  beginning  of  social 
betterment.  To  become  a  Christian  is  to  have  the  center 
of  one's  interest  shifted  from  self-seeking  to  concern  for 
the  common  good.  Fully  to  realize  the  Christian  ideal 
would  be  to  have  done  once  and  for  all  with  everything 
that  is  self-centered  and  unbrotherly. 

This  emphasis  on  the  moral  factor  differentiates  the 
Christian  approach  to  industrial  problems  from  any 
which  assumes  that  economic  conditions  are  the  sole  de- 
termining factor  in  human  welfare  and  that  the  increase 
of  prosperity  will  in  itself  solve  the  moral  problems. 
Christianity  is  under  no  such  illusion.  It  knows  that  no 
change  in  the  external  machinery  of  the  production  and 
distribution  of  wealth  is  sufficient  to  save  society.  It 
realizes  that  wealth  in  itself  is  only  a  tool,  capable  of 
serving  either  worthy  or  ignoble  ends,  and  that  all  turns 
upon  the  spirit  in  which  it  is  used. 

In  their  reaction  against  the  purely  physical  and 
economic  interpretation  of  life  Christians  have  often  gone 
to  the  other  extreme,  and  thought  that  man's  spirit  was 
so  far  independent  of  his  environment  that  all  questions 
as  to  the  acquisition  and  distribution  of  wealth  were  in- 
different to  him  and  could  be  ignored.  They  have  over- 
looked the  effect  of  environment  on  men's  lives  in  the 


6  INTRODUCTION 

same  one-sided  way  in  which  economic  thinkers  have 
often  overlooked  the  importance  of  spiritual  influences. 

But  to  do  this  is  to  do  violence  to  the  nature  of  the 
Christian  religion.  For  according  to  the  Christian  con- 
ception of  God  He  is  the  Lord  of  all  life  and  of  both 
worlds,  the  material  as  well  as  the  spiritual.  He  is  the 
creator  of  the  physical  universe  and  has  made  for  the 
use  of  man  all  that  it  contains.  Mankind  in  all  its  rela- 
tions, therefore,  must  be  organized  according  to  the  will 
of  God,  as  revealed  in  Christ.  The  entire  social  order 
must  be  Christianized.  The  world  as  a  whole  is  the 
subject  of  redemption. 

And  this  social  order  which  the  Christian  seeks  is  not 
limited  to  the  present  life.  Beginning  here  and  now  it 
reaches  on  into  the  world  beyond.  The  personalities 
that  constitute  it  are  deathless,  made  for  endless  develop- 
ment. This  is  an  interpretation  of  human  life  which  has 
often  been  severely  criticized  by  those  who  do  not  take 
the  Christian  view.  For  the  vision  of  the  future,  they 
say,  has  caused  Christians  to  refuse  to  assume  responsi- 
bility for  present  world  conditions  or  to  work  actively 
for  a  world  order  here  and  now  which  shall  adequately 
express  the  true  relation  between  man  and  man.  This, 
however,  is  not  the  result  of  the  Christian  belief  in  im- 
mortality, but  of  an  inadequate  conception  of  what  that 
belief  really  implies  for  the  present  life.  Rightly  under- 
stood, it  does  not  result  in  depreciation  of  the  life  that 
now  is  but  in  its  great  enhancement. 

For  consider  what  the  Christian  doctrine  of  immor- 
tality means.  It  means  that  man  has  a  significance  so 
great  that  it  cannot  be  expressed  in  terms  of  space  and 
time.  It  involves  a  more  exalted  estimate  of  the  worth 
of  human  personality  than  is  given  by  any  other  interpre- 
tation of  life.  And  the  higher  the  value  we  place  upon 
man,  the  stronger  will  be  our  impulse  to  create  for  him 
surroundings  calculated  to  develop  his  latent  capacities 
to  the  utmost.    Hence  faith  in  the  future  life,  far  from 


INTRODUCTION  7 

making  us  indiflferent  to  the  environment  in  which  we 
live,  ought  to  be  the  highest  and  most  direct  motive  to 
social  progress. 

In  an  important  way,  then,  the  Christian  approach  to 
the  industrial  problem  differs  from  that  of  much  con- 
temporary social  philosophy.  It  emphasizes  the  moral 
and  spiritual  factor  as  having  its  own  independent  con- 
tribution to  make  to  the  solution  of  economic  problems. 
And  it  puts  the  problem  of  present  industrial  reconstruc- 
tion in  its  true  setting  as  part  of  the  larger  enterprise  of 
the  establishment  of  the  Kingdom  of  God,  extending 
beyond  this  world  into  another.  Against  this  general 
background  we  have  to  consider  the  special  principles 
which  determine  the  Christian  attitude  to  the  industrial 
order. 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY 

The  teaching  of  Jesus  about  society  finds  its  center  in 
what  He  has  to  say  concerning  the  Kingdom  of  God. 
This  phrase,  or  its  equivalent,  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven, 
occurs  more  than  one  hundred  times  in  the  first  three 
gospels.  The  idea  for  which  it  stands  is  fundamental  in 
His  teaching  and  it  is  only  as  we  understand  its  meaning 
that  we  can  gain  a  clue  to  His  social  message. 

Jesus  Himself  never  gave  any  formal  definition  of  the 
Kingdom.  The  phrase  had  long  been  familiar  to  His 
hearers.  It  was  the  term  in  which  the  pious  Jew  ex- 
pressed his  anticipation  of  a  time  when  the  national  ideal 
of  Israel  should  at  last  be  realized  and  the  prophets' 
dream  of  a  just  and  prosperous  society  come  true.  Jesus, 
while  giving  the  term  a  richer  and  a  larger  content,  took 
this  earlier  association  for  granted.  For  us,  therefore, 
who  lack  the  background  of  His  hearers,  it  requires  an 
effort  of  the  imagination  to  understand  all  that  it  meant. 
Many  points  of  detail  are  still  under  discussion  among 
scholars,  but  enough  has  been  made  clear  by  the  study  of 
the  last  generation  to  give  us  a  solid  foundation  for  our 
thought. 

By  the  Kingdom  Jesus  means  a  social  order  which  is 
not  merely  of  man's  devising,  but  which  it  is  God's  pur- 
pose to  establish  in  the  world  and  of  which  He  is  the 
head.  It  is  such  a  society  as  will  naturally  result  when 
all  men's  wills  are  conformed  to  the  ideals  which  He  has 
revealed.  Of  all  existing  societies  the  family  offers  us 
our  nearest  analogy.  As  in  the  family  parents  and  chil- 
dren cooperate  for  a  common  purpose  and  recognize  the 
rights  of  all  in  the  good  of  each,  so  in  the  Kingdom  the 

9 


lo  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

controlling  principle  of  action  is  to  be  love  and  mutual 
helpfulness.  From  the  first  it  has  been  God's  plan  that 
men  should  live  together  in  this  fashion,  and  now  that 
Jesus  has  come  to  make  His  will  clear,  participation  in 
this  ideal  society  is  to  be  the  great  objective  of  human 
living.  Men  are  to  seek  the  Kingdom  first,  confident  that 
if  they  do,  all  other  interests  will  fall  into  their  proper 
places.!  They  are  to  pray  for  its  coming  upon  the  earth 
and  they  are  to  live  in  the  spirit  of  their  prayer.^  Coming 
to  men  as  a  gift  from  God,  the  Kingdom  is  to  be  attained 
by  men's  cooperation  with  His  purpose.  Thus  it  is  "both 
a  gift  to  be  received  and  a  result  to  be  achieved."  Its 
imminent  coming  is  the  motive  for  personal  consecration. 
Men  are  to  "repent,  for  the  Kingdom  of  God  is  at  hand."^ 
Hidden  though  it  be  from  those  whose  eyes  are  not  open 
to  discern  its  coming,  it  is  already  present  in  germ  in 
the  seed  now  sown  which  will  grow  up  to  be  an  over- 
shadowing tree.^  For  the  sake  of  the  Kingdom  every- 
thing else,  if  need  be,  must  be  given  up.^ 

Such,  in  briefest  outline,  is  Jesus'  conception  of  human 
society  as  God  means  it  to  be.  Nowhere  summed  up  in 
logical  completeness,  we  gain  our  impression  of  it  from 
the  word  pictures  we  call  the  parables.  Nevertheless, 
as  one  studies  the  pages  of  the  gospels,  certain  definite 
principles  emerge  which  are  implicit  in  Jesus'  doctrine 
of  the  Kingdom,  which  give  us  the  standards  by  which  our 
own  social  life  must  be  judged,  and  in  the  acceptance  of 
which  His  followers,  whatever  their  differences  in  other 
matters,  would  agree.^     These  principles  are  the  supreme 

^Matthew  6 :  33.     ^Matthew  6:10. 

*Mark  1:15.     *  Matthew  13:31.     '^Matthew  13:44-46. 

®  Of  the  fact  and  extent  of  conflicting  opinions  among  Chris- 
tians the  existence  side  by  side  of  rival  denominations  gives 
impressive  witness.  As  Protestants  we  have  no  single  authori- 
tative court  to  which  we  may  go  to  have  our  differences 
resolved,  as  is  the  case  with  Rorce.  And  even  in  the  case  of 
Rome  outward  unity  may  be  only  the  cloak  for  inward  difference. 
If  we  are  to  carry  conviction  we  must  win  our  agreement  freely 
by  a  comparison  of  the  conclusions  of  earnest  students,  who 
through  the  centuries  have  approached  the  Bible  each  for  himself 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY     ii 

worth  of  personality  in  the  sight  of  God,  the  brotherhood 
of  all  men  as  children  of  one  Father,  the  obligation  of 
service  to  one's  fellows,  the  law  of  love  as  the  ruling 
motive  of  life,  and  the  duty  of  faith  in  God  and  in 
humanity^  As  to  the  specific  application  of  these  prin- 
ciples, there  may  be  wide  divergence,  but  not  as  to  the 
principles  themselves.  Whatever  else  they  may  or  may  not 
believe.  Christians  are  at  one  in  holding  that  man  as  man 
has  value  for  God;  that  he  is  a  member  of  a  family  of 
which  Christ  is  the  elder  brother;  that  the  members  of 
the  family  are  to  be  united  in  mutual  service  and  helpful- 
ness; that  the  way  of  life  in  this  family  is  love;  that  it  is 
the  duty  of  each  to  believe  the  best  of  his  fellows  because 
of  his  faith  in  the  loving  purpose  of  the  God  upon  whom 
all  alike  depend.  Whether  we  take  our  departure  from 
the  teaching  of  Jesus,  its  interpretation  in  the  Epistles, 
or  the  experience  of  the  later  Church,  these  remain  cen- 
tral and  cardinal  principles  which  must  determine  our 
attitude  to  every  specific  question.  The  first  three  of  these 
principles  we  shall  consider  as  defining  the  nature  of  the 
Christian  ideal,  the  last  two  as  indicating,  in  part,  the 
method  by  which  it  is  to  be  realized. 

We  have  spoken  of.  these  principles  as  if  they  were  dis- 
tinct and  independent.  It  cannot  be  too  often  insisted, 
however,  that  they  are  indissoluble  parts  of  a  single 
whole.  The  significance  of  each  of  them  can  be  under- 
stood only  in  the  light  of  the  others,  and  the  significance 
of  all  combined  only  in  the  light  of  that  which  was  the 
center  of  Jesus'  entire  message  and  of  all  His  experience 
— faith  in  God.     The  worth  of  personality,  brotherhood, 


to  find  out  what  it  teaches,  and  who  have  tried  as  best  they  could 
to  apply  what  they  have  found  to  the  changing  conditions  of 
their  own  age.  Yet  this  seeming  disadvantage  will  turn  into  an 
advantage  if  it  appears  that,  in  spite  of  the  many  superficial  and 
often  radical  dififerences  which  exist  among  Christians,  there  is 
an  underlying  agreement  on  matters  of  fundamental  importance. 
'To  justify  our  choice  of  these  principles  would  carry  us  too 
far.  It  would  require  a  treatise  on  Biblical  exegesis  and  historical 
theology.    We  must  take  the  results  of  such  a  study  for  granted. 


12  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  duty  of  service,  which  we  are  now  to  discuss,  are 
principles  which  others  than  Christians  have  held.  The 
distinctive  contribution  which  Jesus  makes  to  their  inter- 
pretation is  in  always  viewing  them  as  grounded  in 
reality  and  destined  to  be  realized  because  having  their 
foundation  in  the  very  character  of  God.  It  is  from  this 
background  that  we  must  come  to  a  consideration  of  the 
Christian  principles  in  detail. 

I.  The  Christian  Teaching  as  to  the  Sacred  Worth 
OF  Every  Personality  as  a  Child  of  God 

The  most  fundamental  element  in  the  Christian  con- 
ception of  the  social  life  is  the  intrinsic  worth  of  every 
personality.  For  Jesus  each  human  individual  has  dis- 
tinct and  measureless  value  as  a  child  of  God  and  a 
potential  member  of  His  Kingdom.  The  preciousness  of 
a  single  life  is  suggested  in  parable  after  parable.  The 
shepherd  goes  out  to  seek  a  single  sheep,  the  woman 
sweeps  the  house  to  find  one  stray  coin,  the  father  yearns 
for  a  single  wayward  son.  Nothing  in  the  Gospel  is 
clearer  than  this  view  of  the  sacred  worth  of  all  human 
life.  Upon  this  assumption  rests  the  entire  redemptive 
enterprise  of  Christianity.  Only  in  the  light  of  this  view 
of  humanity  can  the  meaning  of  sin  be  realized.  It  is  so 
dreadful  a  thing  to  the  Christian  just  because  it  is  com- 
mitted by  one  who  is  a  child  of  God  and  destined 
for  fellowship  with  Jesus  Christ,  in  whom  God's  ideal  for 
man  is  realized  and  made  known.  This  principle  of  the 
value  of  personality  becomes,  therefore,  the  central  and 
controlling  principle  of  Christian  ethics. 

At  various  times  in  the  history  of  the  Church  the  full 
extent  of  this  principle  has  been  limited.  This  has  been 
done,  for  example,  whenever  the  doctrine  of  election 
has  been  interpreted  in  such  a  way  as  to  put  limits  on 
the  saving  purpose  of  God.  But  in  so  doing  men  have 
departed  from  Jesus'  teaching.  The  characteristic  fea- 
ture  in  His   attitude   was   that   He   saw   values   where 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY     13 

others  did  not,  and  refused  to  despair  even  of  those  for 
whom  the  Church  in  His  day  held  out  no  hope.  A  lost 
son  was  still  a  son,  and  heir  to  all  the  father  possessed. 
The  "lost"  man  was  so  precious  and  of  such  potential 
value  that  "the  Son  of  Man  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
that  which  was  lost."^  He  associated  with  the  outcasts 
of  His  day.^  He  saw  in  all  men  something  of  infinite 
worth.  In  Mary  Magdalene  he  discerned  the  elements 
of  true  womanhood.  In  vacillating  Peter  there  was  some- 
thing like  a  rock.  In  an  unknown  Syro-Phcenician 
woman  there  were  elements  of  greatness.  In  a  Roman 
soldier  He  found  the  greatest  faith.  In  a  thief  on  the 
cross  there  was  something  that  could  be  welcomed  in 
Paradise.  The  "common  people  heard  him  gladly,"  be- 
cause in  them  he  discovered  and  revealed  rights  and 
possibilities  which  others  could  not  see.  A  new  sense 
of  human  worth  and  dignity  springs  from  the  pages  of 
the  Gospel. 

From  the  Christian  estimate  of  personality  it  follows 
that  each  man  has  his  own  distinct  place  in  God's  plan, 
and  is  never  to  be  regarded  simply  as  a  means  for  realiz- 
ing the  ends  of  others.  Hence  all  slavery  is  wrong, 
because  based  upon  a  fundamental  misconception  of  the 
value  of  personality.  Ignoring  the  right  of  man  as  man 
to  free  self-development,  it  treats  him  not  as  a  person 
but  as  a  thing.  It  denies  him  his  independent  and 
inalienable  place  as  a  member  of  the  family  of  God. 
And  this  Christian  point  of  view  is  inconsistent  not  only 
with  slavery  in  the  crude  form  that  now  has  vanished 
from  the  earth,  but  also  with  any  social  relationships  that 
prevent  full  self -development  by  subordinating  one 
human  being  to  the  uses  of  another  and  making  one  man 
little  more  than  a  means  to  another's  convenience  or  gain. 
It  runs  counter  to  all  valuing  of  people  according  to  their 
utility  to  us  rather  than  for  their  own  intrinsic  worth. 


'  Luke  19 :  10.    "  Luke  15 :  i,  2. 


14  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Any  civilization  is,  therefore,  condemned  by  it  so  far  as 
the  well-being  of  the  relatively  few  is  built  upon  the 
continuing  impoverishment  of  the  many. 

The  truth  that  every  man  is  an  end  in  himself  does  not 
mean  that  all  men  are  equal  in  capacity  or  in  reward. 
The  parable  of  the  talents  clearly  recognizes  inherent 
differences  in  men's  ability  and  responsibility,^^  which 
experience  confirms.  But  the  conception  of  the  worth  of 
all  men  in  the  sight  of  God,  as  all  alike  His  children,  does 
require  that  there  shall  be  equality  of  opportunity  for  all 
to  share  in  the  Father's  common  gifts  and  to  attain  to 
their  own  full  self -development.  We  cannot  as  Chris- 
tians believe  that  God  has  favorites  who  He  means  should 
have  special  privileges  that  involve  deprivation  to  others. 
We  dare  not  think  it  is  His  will  that  millions  of  men  are 
to  be  denied  the  opportunities  for  education  and  leisure 
and  culture  that  make  possible  our  own  fulness  of  life. 

From  the  Christian  conception  of  personality  it  follows 
also  that  material  values  are  always  to  be  secondary  to 
human  values.  A  man's  life  does  not  consist  in  the 
abundance  of  things  that  he  possesses.  They  are  to  be 
regarded  not  as  of  primary  concern  but  simply  as  a 
means  to  the  worthiest  living.  "What  doth. it  profit  a 
man,"  asks  Jesus,  "to  gain  the  whole  world  and  forfeit 
his  life?"^^  And  the  principle  applies  not  only  to  one's 
own  life  but  to  any  impoverishment  of  the  lives  of  others 
through  one's  pursuit  of  gain.  According  to  the  Chris- 
tian scale  of  values,  therefore,  property  rights  are  to  be 
subordinate  to  human  rights.  The  test  of  industrial  effi- 
ciency is  to  be  not  the  size  of  the  profits  but  the  effect  on 
human  lives.  Men  do  not  exist  for  the  sake  of  industry; 
industry  exists  for  their  sakes,  if  personal  values  are  the 
supreme  thing  in  the  world. 

This  emphasis  on  the  supremacy  of  spiritual  values 


'^Matthew  25 :  14-30. 
"Mark  8:36. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY     15 

does  not  mean  that  Jesus  was  indifferent  to  the  physical 
conditions  under  which  men  live.  He  never  isolated  the 
human  soul  from  its  environment  and  treated  it  as  if  it 
were  a  disembodied  spirit.  On  the  contrary  he  healed  the 
sick,  fed  the  hungry,  and  cleansed  the  temple.  He  bade 
his  disciples  clothe  the  naked,  relieve  physical  want,  undo 
heavy  burdens,  let  the  oppressed  go  free.  In  seeking  to 
change  the  external  environment  for  the  better,  therefore, 
we  are  following  Jesus'  example.  If  we  are  to  be  ef- 
fectively concerned  with  the  spirit  of  men  we  have  to  be 
concerned  with  outward  surroundings,  for  though  they 
do  not  in  themselves  determine  the  issues  of  life,  they 
have  a  powerful  effect  upon  them.  People  differ  in 
character,  in  part,  because  of  the  conditions  into  which 
they  were  born  and  the  opportunities  opened  to  them  by 
their  physical  surroundings.  Change  environment  and 
you  enlarge  or  limit  opportunity,  stimulate  or  hinder 
growth,  as  the  case  may  be. 

This  gives  us  a  direct  point  of  contact  with  modem 
industry,  for  of  society  as  at  present  organized  it  is 
manifestly  true  that  the  physical  environment  does  handi- 
cap the  growth  of  the  inner  life.  There  are  multitudes  of 
people  who  might  be  helped  to  the  larger  life  who  are 
needlessly  hampered  by  their  surroundings.  The  con- 
ditions under  which  they  live  limit  them  in  knowledge, 
narrow  their  sympathies,  condemn  them  to  fatiguing 
hours  of  monotonous  toil,  weaken  their  physical  and 
moral  vitality,  deny  them  decent  homes  in  which  to  live, 
and  in  many  other  ways,  which  we  are  presently  to  state 
more  in  detail,  prevent  them  from  reaching  their  full 
stature  as  rounded  and  well  developed  personalities.  Yet 
these  limitations  on  the  lives  of  millions  of  men,  far 
from  being  thought  of  as  unchristian  and  intolerable, 
are  taken  as  a  matter  of  course  by  hosts  of  their  fellows, 
and  attempts  to  change  them  are  even  resented  and  re- 
sisted. This  denial  to  some  of  conditions  regarded  as 
necessary  and  natural  for  others  constitutes  the  primary 


i6  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

grievance  against  which  so  many  of  the  workers  now 
rightly  protest. 

This  view  of  the  worth  of  personality  underlies  the 
Christian  conception  of  social  justice.  What  each 
affirms  for  himself  he  must  be  ready  to  grant  to  his 
neighbor  because  he,  too,  is  a  unit  of  intrinsic  worth, 
entitled  to  consideration  for  his  own  sake  and  to  equal 
opportunity  for  self-realization.  To  other  personalities 
we  must  give  the  same  regard  that  we  desire  for  our- 
selves,i2  viewing  them,  as  God  views  us,  not  in  the  light 
of  present  attainment  but  in  the  light  of  what  is  possible 
for  them  to  become.  The  subordination  of  one  indi- 
vidual to  the  ends  of  another,  therefore,  whether  through 
force  or  as  the  result  of  economic  conditions,  is  the  great 
injustice.  Justice  is  thus  something  far  more  than  treat- 
ing others  as  a  legal  code  demands.  It  is  something  more 
than  an  equitable  apportionment  of  goods.  As  in  the 
family,  so  also  in  society  at  large,  it  is  at  heart  the  seeking 
of  the  largest  good  of  all  the  members  of  the  group. 

In  this  insistence  upon  the  value  of  the  individual  per- 
sonality and  the  underlying  faith  in  the  potential  capacity 
of  the  least  of  men  to  fulfill  some  worthy  function  in 
society,  Christianity  finds  its  point  of  contact  with 
modern  democracy.  Democracy  is  the  attempt  to  realize 
this  fundamental  right  of  every  personality  to  self- 
expression  through  cooperation  with  others  in  a  common 
task.  In  the  political  sphere  it  has  already  found  large 
recognition.  But  we  are  discovering  that  there  are  other 
spheres  of  human  interest  to  which  it  equally  applies. 
In  fact,  if  we  begin  by  accepting  the  Christian  estimate 
of  man  we  shall  find  it  difficult  to  set  any  limits  to 
democracy.  It  applies,  or  should  apply,  in  the  sphere  of 
organized  religion,  which  is  the  Church.  It  applies  in 
the  sphere  of  industry  with  which  we  are  here  immedi- 
ately concerned.  Indeed,  it  may  be  of  relatively  small  sig- 


"Matthew  7 :  12. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY     17 

nificance  for  men  to  have  the  right  of  political  self- 
expression,  unless  they  have  similar  opportunity  for 
self-expression  in  their  daily  work.  For  the  conditions 
which  affect  them  in  industry  touch  them  more  closely 
than  the  concerns  of  the  state. 

But  is  it  not  dangerous  to  give  men  the  measure  of 
freedom  that  this  estimate  of  personality  requires  ?  Shall 
we  not  simply  add  to  the  evils  of  our  present  social  order 
by  widening  the  range  of  conflict?  This  might,  indeed, 
be  true  if  the  personalities  in  question  were  isolated 
individuals,  independent  of  one  another  in  their  rights 
and  interests.  But  this  is  the  opposite  of  the  Christian 
view.  Personality,  according  to  Christianity,  is  a  social 
conception.  To  be  a  person  means  to  have  one's  place  in 
a  larger  whole,  to  realize  one's  true  self  in  relation  to 
others.  It  can  only  be  understood,  therefore,  in  the  light 
of  its  converse,  which  is  brotherhood. 

2.  The  Christian  Teaching  as  to  Brotherhood  as 
THE  Primary  Relation  between  Man  and  Man 

The  Christian  view  of  the  individual  personality  never 
regards  him  as  an  isolated  unit,  but  as  a  member  of 
a  society  whose  interests  he  shares.  This  society  is 
regarded  by  Jesus  as  a  family,  a  group  in  which  mutual 
helpfulness  should  prevail.  This,  too,  like  the  worth  of 
the  individual,  follows  from  our  faith  in  the  divine 
Fatherhood.  Those  who  have  one  Father  such  as  Christ 
revealed  cannot  be  distantly  related ;  one  is  their  Master, 
even  Christ,  and  they  all  are  brothers. ^^  The  extent  to 
which  Jesus  regarded  men  in  terms  of  a  social  unity  is 
nowhere  more  clearly  revealed  than  in  His  thought  of 
their  fellowship  with  God  in  prayer.  He  taught  them 
to  think  of  God  as  ''our  Father,"  to  seek  not  private 
blessings  but  ''our  daily  bread,"  to  recognize  social  re- 
sponsibility in  asking  forgiveness  for  "our  trespasses." 


•  Matthew  23 :  8. 


i8  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

This  conception  of  the  organic  unity  of  society  is 
involved  in  Jesus'  conception  of  the  Kingdom,  in  which 
each  must  find  his  place  before  he  can  attain  his  true 
destiny  as  a  child  of  God.  It  is  recognized  in  an 
explicit  way  by  Paul  in  his  figure  of  the  Church  as  a  body 
of  many  members,  each  of  which  has  its  own  function, 
but  shares  in  the  weal  or  woe  of  all  the  rest.^^  In  both 
of  those  points  of  view  the  central  fact  is  that  we  are 
all  so  much  members  one  of  another  that  one's  larger 
self-interest  is  wrapped  up  in  the  common  good.^^ 
Personal  life  is  a  partnership  in  which  each  shares  in 
the  experience  of  the  others,  works  for  their  good,  suffers 
with  them.  To  state  the  Christian  ideal  for  man  in  terms 
of  individual  salvation  or  self -development  alone  is  there- 
fore impossible.  Personality  can  fulfill  itself  only  in  a 
social  setting,  its  values  be  realized  only  in  fellowship. 

In  this  brotherhood  the  motive  of  love  is  the  binding 
force.  And  this  motive  is  central  and  controlling  for  all 
of  life.  When  asked,  "Which  is  the  greatest  command- 
ment ?"  Jesus'  answer  was,  "Thou  shalt  love,"  a  principle 
so  all-inclusive  that  on  it  "hang  all  the  law  and  the 
prophets. "1^  Love  is  to  be  directed  both  to  God  and  to 
men  as  the  children  of  God.  It  is,  therefore,  the  one 
principle  for  religion  and  ethics  alike.  This  simplifica- 
tion of  the  problems  of  all  social  life,  in  terms  of  one 
ruling  motive  is  the  most  distinctive  thing  in  the  Chris- 


**  I  Corinthians  12  :  12-27. 

^^  The  place  of  competitive  struggle  in  the  development  of  so- 
ciety we  have  in  the  past  greatly  overemphasized.  The  assurnp- 
tion  has  even  been  made,  by  an  appeal  to  evolutionary  theories, 
that  the  war  of  each  against  all  was  the  normal  law  of  life.  How 
superficial  such  an  interpretation  was  we  are  now  beginning  to 
see.  Thanks  to  Henry  Drummond  and  Peter  Kropotkin,  we  now 
know  that  even  in  the  sub-human  realm  mutual  aid  is  at  least  as 
important  a  factor  in  survival  as  mutual  struggle,  and  that  in 
the  onward  evolution  of  life  it  is  of  far  greater  significance. 
The  course  of  nature  is,  therefore,  no  longer  to  be  regarded  as 
alien  to  the  Christian  ideal.  For  a  recent  treatment  of  evolution 
from  this  angle  see  George  Nasmyth,  "Social  Progress  and  the 
Darwinian  Theory,"  New  York,  1916. 

'*  Matthew  22 :  37-40. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY     19 

tian  religion.  Others  have  taught  the  way  of  love  but 
none  other  has  made  it  so  central  as  to  declare,  "By 
this  shall  all  men  know  that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye 
have  love  one  to  another. "^"^  Nor  has  any  other  made 
the  motive  so  universal  in  its  application  as  to  say,  "Love 
your  enemies  ...  do  good  to  them  that  hate  you."^^ 

By  love,  as  used  by  Jesus,  is  not  meant  simply  an 
emotional  attitude.  It  is  an  active  desire  that  all  men 
shall  have  the  fulness  of  life  that  one  desires  for  himself. 
It  involves  a  directing  of  the  will  toward  the  common 
good.  Hence  love  always  unites.  Selfishness,  on  the 
other  hand,  is  always  disruptive,  because  it  means  that 
men's  wills  are  directed  to  private  and  exclusive  ends. 
It  is  the  motive  of  love,  therefore,  that  makes  possible  the 
human  solidarity  implied  in  the  conception  of  brother- 
hood.19 

The  brotherhood  contemplated  by  the  Christian  ideal  is 
a  universal  brotherhood.  As  there  is  one  Father  so  there 
is  but  one  human  family.  The  founder  of  Christianity 
included  in  the  circle  of  His  thought  the  Samaritans,  os- 
tracized by  the  Jews,  and  even  the  Gentiles  hated  by  Jew 
and  Samaritan  alike.  He  saw  that  men  were  to  come 
from  the  East  and  the  West  and  the  North  and  the 
South  into  the  Kingdom  of  God.^^  The  early  apostles 
of  the  new  faith  had  a  remarkable  experience  of  ex- 
panding fellowship  that  finally  knew  no  limits.  Peter 
learned  that  he  "should  not  call  any  man  common 
or  unclean,2i  and  Paul  that  there  is  neither  Jew  nor 
Greek,  bond  nor  free,  male  or  female,  "but  all  are  one 
in  Christ  Jesus."22  The  attempt  to  set  up  as  final  and  ex- 
clusive any  other  category  less  inclusive  than  humanity 
is  inconsistent  with  faith  in  a  God  who  has  made  of  one 


''John  13:35,    "Matthew  5:44. 

'*  In  the  present  discussion  we  are  considering  the  principle  of 
love  in  so  far  as  it  helps  to  define  the  nature  of  the  Christian 
ideal.  As  a  method  for  realizing  that  ideal  it  will  be  discussed 
in  Chapter  IV,  together  with  the  principle  of  faith. 

""Luke  13 :  29.     ''Acts  10 :  28.     "Galatians  3  :  28. 


20  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

blood  all  peoples  of  the  earth.^^  The  solidarity  of 
mankind  is  inseparable  from  Christianity.^^ 

The  Christian  ideal  of  an  all-embracing  brotherhood, 
it  is  true,  is  still  unrealized.  How  far  we  have  to  go 
before  we  can  be  said  even  measurably  to  have  attained ! 
Nevertheless,  it  remains  as  the  final  goal  of  all  our  efforts 
and  must,  therefore,  be  our  standard  for  estimating 
whatever  progress  we  have  made.  We  have  a  present 
anticipation  of  the  goal  in  the  growing  interrelationships 
of  nations  and  in  an  expanding  interracial  sympathy,  and 
the  progress  that  has  been  made  is  our  ground  for  reason- 
able hope  that  the  ideal  can  be  increasingly  realized  in 
the  future  of  the  race. 

In  the  existing  social  order,  however,  there  are  influ- 
ences which  seem  to  limit,  if  not  to  deny,  human  brother- 
hood. Nationality,  race,  and  class  are  all  conspicuous 
factors  in  our  present  social  life  that  keep  men  apart. 
The  question,  therefore,  confronts  us.  What  should  be 
the  Christian  attitude  toward  these  subordinate  social  re- 
lations? How  far  have  they  any  legitimate  place  in  a 
society  that  is  moving  toward  a  Christian  brotherhood  ? 

We  may  find  a  clue  to  the  right  answer  in  what  has 
already  been  said  about  the  Christian  view  of  the 
individual.  Just  as  fully  developed  individuals  are  essen- 
tial to  the  well-being  of  a  community,  so  also  are  highly 


*'Acts  17:26. 

^*This  is  the  great  significance  of  the  Church,  that  it  is  an 
expression  of  this  inherent  unity  of  mankind.  Here  is  a  society 
which  includes  men  of  all  races,  of  all  classes,  and  of  all  forms 
of  occupation  and  degrees  of  knowledge,  who  are  yet  one  in  that 
they  are  all  children  of  God.  This  ideal  has  hitherto  been  con- 
ceived too  narrowly  and  too  meagerly  attained.  Even  foreign 
missions,  which  is  the  aspect  of  the  Church's  life  where  the 
oneness  of  humanity  comes  to  fullest  recognition,  has  often  been 
given  such  an  individualistic  interpretation  that  the  social  rela- 
tionships of  men  have  been  ignored.  Nevertheless,  the  very  fact 
of  ihe  missionary  enterprise  has  been  a  witness  to  the  unity  of 
mankind  and  it  is  needed  now,  enlarged  and  strengthened,  as  a 
great  practical  expression  of  the  Church's  faith  that  all  men 
belong  to  the  one  family  of  God 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    21 

developed  racial,  national,  and  occupational  groups  the 
basis  for  an  efficient  social  order.  The  proper  develop- 
ment of  the  smaller  units  makes  possible  a  richer  unity 
in  an  organic  whole.  Moreover,  the  existence  of  these 
smaller  subdivisions  of  society,  with  their  accompanying 
group  loyalties,  has  meant  an  enlargement  rather  than  a 
narrowing  of  social  consciousness.  They  mean  that  men 
have  moved  out  into  relationships  no  longer  bounded  by 
their  own  family  or  tribal  interests.  They  may  serve, 
therefore,  to  educate  men  for  the  still  larger  experience 
of  fellowship  with  all  mankind.  The  man  who  loves  his 
own  family  intensely  does  not  for  that  reason  feel  himself 
opposed  to  other  families.  On  the  contrary,  he  is  better 
able  to  understand  what  family  affection  means  to  others 
because  he  has  felt  it  himself.  So  the  class  consciousness 
of  the  labor  movement  may  develop  an  appreciation  of 
social  values  that  will  minister  to  a  more  inclusive  human 
fellowship.  Even  radical  labor  groups,  which  may  now 
seem  to  operate  in  a  destructive  manner,  may  serve  as  a 
training  school  in  social  living.  To  an  audience  of 
Church  workers  a  leader  of  the  I.  W.  W.  lately  said, 
"You  may  say  what  you  will  against  us,  but  you  cannot 
deny  that  we,  and  we  alone,  have  given  the  casual  laborer 
a  social  conscience.'' 

If,  however,  class,  nation,  or  race  is  made  an  exclusive 
category,  or  if  the  group  consciousness  is  artificially 
limited  so  that  wider  human  sympathies  are  repressed, 
a  common  fellowship  is  hindered.  Nationality,  which  is 
a  natural  fact,  then  becomes  the  basis  for  a  cult  of  nation- 
alism, which  regards  the  individual  state  as  an  absolute 
and  sovereign  entity.  So  far  as  classes  have  their  founda- 
tion in  differences  of  function  in  the  industrial  order,  they 
may  be  following  natural  and  useful  lines  and  may  serve 
to  secure  a  highly  diversified  and  rich  social  life.  But  to 
the  extent  that  possession  of  material  goods  is  made  the 
basis  for  the  formation  of  social  classes  we  have  set  up 
artificial  barriers  to  brotherhood.     For,  as  we  have  re- 


22  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

cently  been  reminded,  creative  instincts  tend  to  unite 
humanity,  while  acquisitive  instincts  divide. 

In  any  case,  according  to  Christianity,  the  relationship 
of  brotherhood  underlies  all  other  human  relationships. 
Men  as  men  are  children  of  God  and  members  of  one 
family.  To  regard  them  as  primarily  German  or  English, 
Caucasian,  Mongolian,  or  Negro  is  to  turn  our  backs  on 
the  Christian  attitude.  So  also  in  industry.  Men,  as 
men,  are  brothers  first,  employers  or  employes  afterward. 
A  man  who  becomes  a  captain  of  industry  and  directs 
the  labor  of  10,000  operatives  does  not  thereby  cease  to 
be  the  brother  of  each  of  them.  If  he  allows  himself  to 
treat  them  primarily  as  artisans  or  "hands"  he  ignores 
the  fundamental  relationship  on  which  any  Christian 
society  must  rest. 

That  the  principle  of  the  supreme  value  of  human 
personality  requires  us  to  consider  the  effect  of  physical 
and  economic  conditions  in  either  promoting  or  limiting 
personal  development  has  been  pointed  out  in  the  pre- 
ceding section.  In  the  principle  of  brotherhood  we  have 
a  further  standard  for  testing  external  surroundings. 
For  environment  is  now  seen  not  simply  as  a  matter 
which  concerns  each  individual  but  as  a  social  interest, 
the  denial  of  a  fair  opportunity  to  one  being  a  problem 
for  all.  If  mankind  is  a  family,  what  concerns  one 
concerns  all.  We  have  to  ask  ourselves,  therefore, 
whether  the  environment  of  any  man  is  such  as  one  would 
tolerate  for  his  own  brothers.  If  we  would  not  acquiesce 
in  it  for  them,  by  what  right  do  we  acquiesce  in  it  for  any 
of  our  fellows? 

That  such  a  gospel  of  brotherhood  is  terribly  needed 
today  in  our  industrial  life  is  patent  to  any  one  who  has 
thought  at  all  deeply  about  our  present  problems.  Al- 
though "brotherhood"  seems  to  most  men  to  have  a  Uto- 
pian sound,  it  will  be  insisted  in  this  report  that  the 
principle  is  not  only  practicable,  but  that  it  is  finally  the 
only  practicable  solution  of  the  problems  of  our  collective 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    23 

living.  Its  acceptance  would,  it  is  true,  require  of  us 
a  different  conception  of  industry  than  that  it  exists  for 
the  sake  of  the  largest  private  profits  that  can  be  secured. 
It  would  require  us  rather  to  think  of  all  industry  in 
terms  of  public  service,  a  point  of  view  which  we  shall 
now  consider. 

3.  The  Christian  Teaching  as  to  the  Law  of  Service 

The  Christian  conception  of  society  as  a  brotherhood 
involves  a  recognition  of  mutual  service  and  helpfulness 
as  the  Christian  way  of  life.  In  the  family  the  spirit 
of  competitive  self-seeking  and  the  existence  of  antago- 
nistic interests  have  no  place.  Its  members  share  a  com- 
mon .life  whose  benefits  each  receives  and  to  which  each 
contributes  according  to  his  ability.  This  is  the  spirit 
that  Jesus  would  have  extend  beyond  the  present  limits 
of  the  home  to  the  whole  of  the  human  family.  The 
motive  of  love,  which  lies  at  the  heart  of  Christianity, 
must  express  itself  in  practical  service  to  mankind.^^ 

The  foundation  of  this  law  of  loving  service  Jesus 
found  in  the  fact  of  God's  love.  He  thought  of  men  as 
children  of  a  Father  who  makes  His  sun  to  shine  freely 
on  even  the  evil ;  hence  they  were  to  become  perfect  in 
their  love  as  their  Father  was  perfect.^^  The  reality  of 
God's  outgoing  and  self -giving  love  Jesus  revealed  in  His 
ovvn  life,  coming  not  to  be  served,  but  to  serve  and  to 
give  His  life.^^  In  His  own  ministry  to  His  fellows,  and 
supremely  in  His  self-sacrificing  death.  He  was  such  an 
incarnation  of  God's  own  life  and  of  the  manner  of  living 
which  He  taught  to  be  the  will  of  God  for  men  that  the 
Cross  stands  as  the  perfect  symbol  of  the  Christian  way 
of  life.  This  principle  of  service  He  held  to  be  binding 
not  on  Himself  alone  but  on  His  followers,  explicitly 
saying,  after  He  had  illustrated  the  principle  in  a  striking 
symbolic  act :  "I  have  given  you  an  example  that  ye  should 


**Luke  10:27-37.     '"Matthew  5:44-48.     ^^Mark  10:44. 


24  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

do  as  I  have  done."^®  And  in  His  great  picture  of  the 
final  judgment  the  one  test  of  men's  lives  v^as  to  be 
v^hether  or  not  they  had  ministered  to  human  need.^® 
The  teaching  of  Jesus  as  to  the  duty  of  service  is  thus 
clear  and  unmistakable.  , 

No  less  unmistakable  is  it  that  the  pursuit  of  material 
wealth  as  one's  primary  concern  was  regarded  by  Jesus 
as  being  inconsistent  with  the  life  of  spiritual  fellowship 
and  service.  The  man  whose  chief  interest  is  to  lay  up 
^'treasure  for  himself"  is  not  "rich  toward  God.''^^ 
Jesus  does  not  mean  that  wealth  is  itself  an  evil  or  that 
an  ascetic  life  is  called  for,  but  He  does  clearly  mean 
that  the  acquisition  of  material  goods  can  not  be  the  main 
concern  of  the  Christian.  He  is  to  seek  first  the  common 
good  of  all  men,  the  goal  which  Jesus  called  the  Kingdom 
of  God.^^  Service  is  not  to  be  a  man's  secondary  con- 
sideration ;  it  is  to  be  his  chief  vocation. 

The  ideal  of  a  brotherhood  of  service  does  not  imply 
that  all  men  are  equal  in  their  capacity  for  service  or  that 
they  are  necessarily  to  receive  the  same  reward.  In  reply 
to  the  question,  "Which  is  the  greatest?"  Jesus  did  not 
say  that  in  His  Kingdom  none  would  be  the  greatest  and 
that  all  would  be  on  one  level  of  achievement.  He  laid 
down  a  new  standard  of  greatness:  Whosoever  will  be 
great  among  you,  let  him  be  the  servant  of  all.^^  Men 
may  still  be  ambitious  to  excel,  not,  however,  "to  sit  at 
the  right  hand  and  at  the  left"  in  places  of  private  ad- 
vantage, but  to  minister  to  human  welfare.  The  same 
principle  is  recognized  by  the  Apostle  Paul  in  his  discus- 
sion of  diversities  of  gifts  within  the  body  of  the  Church. 
The  various  members  do  not  perform  equal  functions, 
but  they  all  are  necessary  and  are  to  "have  the  same  care 
one  for  another."^^ 

That  all  men  are  to  engage  actively  in  useful  work  is 
a  corollary  of  the  principle  of  service.     The  parables  of 

"^John   13  :  15.     ^Matthew  25  :  31-46.     ""Luke  12  :  21. 
^'Matthew  6:33.     ^''Mark  10:44.     ^^  Corinthians  12:25. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    25 

the  workers  in  the  vineyard,  the  fisherman  and  his  net, 
the  sower  in  the  field,  the  shepherd  with  his  flock,  the 
householder  making  a  winepress,  and  many  others  of 
Jesus'  illustrations  drawn  from  the  sphere  of  industry, 
all  suggest  that  a  life  of  practical  activity  is  regarded  as 
the  right  and  normal  thing.  He  commends  the  man  who 
performs  economic  tasks  with  diligence  and  rebukes  the 
man  who  is  slothful  in  these  duties. ^^  In  a  single  word  )^  -? 
the  Apostle  tersely  sums  up  the  Christian  view,  "If  any  j-^^^ ' 
man  will  not  work  neither  shall  he  eat."  And  these  daily 
tasks  are  not  thought  of  as  apart  from  men's  Christian 
service.  They  are  Christian  service  if  performed  in  the 
spirit  of  seeking  the  common  good  and  meeting  human 
needs.  Any  function  which  is  essential  to  social  welfare 
is  a  true  ministry  and  he  serves  God  most  who  con- 
tributes most  to  the  common  weal. 

Industry,  then,  in  its  primary  and  central  significance, 
is  social  service.  This  is  inevitably  the  Christian  view. 
It  is  true  that  we  cannot  look  to  Jesus'  teaching  for  any 
detailed  regulations  for  industrial  concerns  today.  In 
the  social  horizon  of  His  time  there  was  no  such  thing  as 
modern  industrial  organization.  But  this  does  not  mean 
that  His  teaching  concerning  service  has  no  necessary 
consequences  for  that  phase  of  our  corporate  life  today. 
The  principle  of  service  which  He  lays  down  is  so  all- 
embracing  that  no  aspect  of  human  relationships  can  be 
exempted  from  its  sway.  Followed  to  its  logical  out- 
come, it  means  that  all  social  organization,  as  well  as  the 
life  of  the  individual  units  that  comprise  society,  must 
center  around  a  higher  principle  than  the  getting  of 
material  possessions.  In  the  light  of  Jesus'  teaching  we 
cannot  escape  the  conclusion  that  the  Christian  test  for 
the  success  of  any  business  or  industrial  establishment  is 
the  extent  to  which  it  ministers  to  the  well-being  of  the 
whole  community.  From  this  it  follows  that  all  income, 
whether  in  the  form  of  wages,  profits,  interest,  or  rent, 

"Matthew  25 :  16, 17. 


26  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

can  be  justified  only  as  a  reward  for  service  rendered  to 
society.  The  natural  inference  from  Jesus'  teaching  is 
that  any  man  is  entitled  to  as  much,  and  only  as  much,  as 
he  earns  by  ministering  to  the  common  good. 

This  point  of  view  obviously  runs  counter  to  the 
standards  that  largely  prevail  in  the  present  conduct  of 
industry.  The  contrast  lies  not  simply  in  men's  failure  to 
measure  up  to  that  standard,  bi^t  in  their  refusal  to  accept 
it  as  a  standard  at  all.  The  trouble  is  not  simply  that 
men  do  not  consistently  apply  the  principle,  but  that  they 
do  not  generally  believe  that  it  is  to  be  applied.  They 
accept  the  economic  sphere  as  a  battle-ground  of  com- 
peting self-interests  in  which  one  is  to  have  whatever  he 
is  able  to  get.  They  assume  that  business  and  industry 
exist  for  the  sake  of  the  private  profits  they  can  be  made 
to  produce  and  that  their  efficiency  is  to  be  measured  in 
terms  of  those  profits.  They  do  not  expect  to  see  over 
the  doorway  of  the  coal  mine,  steel  factory,  or  depart- 
ment store,  ''Whoever  would  be  great  among  you  shall 
be  the  servant  of  all.''  The  seeming  impossibility  of 
reconciling  Christian  teaching  with  life  in  the  market 
place  drove  earnest  men  in  an  earlier  day  into  the 
monastery.  Today  it  calls  them  to  stay  in  the  market 
place  and  to  say,  'T  am  here  as  one  that  serves." 

The  consequences  of  the  law  of  service  for  the  use 
of  possessions  are  as  significant  as  for  the  conduct  of  the 
industry  or  the  business  by  which  the  possessions  are 
acquired.  These  consequences  are  summed  up  in  what 
is  commonly  called  the  duty  of  stewardship.  This  means, 
in  a  word,  that  all  that  one  has  he  holds  in  trust  for  the 
common  good.  The  principle  is  valid  in  the  case  of  other 
possessions  than  material  goods — it  is  true  of  power  or 
influence  or  public  office — but  it  is  with  its  application 
to  property  that  we  are  here  most  directly  concerned. 

The  Christian  attitude  toward  property,  as  revealed  in 
the  New  Testament  and  confirmed  by  later  history,  may 
be  summed  up  in  a  series  of  simple  propositions.    In  the- 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    27 

first  place,  property  is  taken  for  granted  as  a  fact  to  be 
reckoned  with.  The  parables  of  the  talents  and  of  the 
unjust  steward  assume  that  men  have  material  posses- 
sions which  they  are  to  use.  In  the  second  place,  prop- 
erty is  to  be  subordinated  to  spiritual  ends.  Should  it 
come,  therefore,  to  bulk  so  largely  in  a  man's  concerns 
that  it  dulls  his  spiritual  vision  and  hinders  his  higher 
life,  it  must  be  renounced.  If  it  stands  in  the  way  of  the 
life  of  fellowship,  one  must  "sell  all  that  he  has.^^s  In 
the  third  place,  property  is  given  social  significance  as 
expressing  a  responsibility  for  service  and  as  being  justi- 
fied only  as  based  upon  service  rendered  to  society.  To 
whom  much  is  given,  of  him  shall  much  be  required. ^^ 
Finally,  it  is  given  a  religious  sanction  as  a  trust  held  for 
God,  to  be  used  as  He  directs  for  the  promotion  of  His 
Kingdom.  The  owner  of  possessions  is  to  be  "a  faithful 
and  wise  servant  whom  his  lord  hath  made  ruler  over  his 
household"  and  who  will  be  held  to  account  by  his  Lord.'^'^ 
These  last  two  points  of  view  together  constitute  the  prin- 
ciple of  stewardship,  and  are  but  two  aspects  of  a  single 
attitude.  To  say  that  men  are  to  hold  possessions  in 
trust  for  God  and  that  they  are  to  regard  them  as  a 
trusteeship  for  humanity  are  two  ways  of  saying  the 
same  thing,  because  the  will  of  God  and  the  good  of 
mankind  are  identical. 

This  brief  review  of  Jesus'  attitude  to  the  question  of 
material  possessions  makes  clear  what  is,  in  general,  the 
Christian  view  of  property.  It  is  a  means  to  the  en- 
hancement of  personality,  a  way  in  which  we  are  able  to 
realize  more  fully  the  spiritual  ends  of  life.  Hence  it 
should  be  an  educative  force,  developing  personal  powers 
by  giving  permanent  control  over  material  things  and  so 
making  possible  purposeful  and  self-directed  living.  And 
it  is  to  be  gained  and  used  in  ways  that  serve  the  welfare 
not  of  a  few  but  of  all.     Only  in  the  light  of  the  supreme 

'"Luke  18:22,  Cf.  Luke  14:33  and  Luke  5:11.  "^Luke  12:48 
•^Matthew  24:45-51. 


28  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

value  of  personality  and  of  brotherhood,  therefore,  can 
we,  if  we  would  be  Christian,  consider  the  rights  and 
duties  of  property. 

The  ideal  of  stewardship,  as  applied  to  property,  has 
been  criticized  from  two  points  of  view.  It  has  been 
criticized,  in  the  first  place,  on  the  ground  that  it  con- 
centrates attention  upon  the  expenditure  of  money  to 
such  an  extent  as  often  to  condone  wrong  methods  of 
acquiring  it.  A  second  criticism  rests  on  the  assumption 
that  it  identifies  the  Christian  use  of  money  with  charity 
rather  than  with  justice.  No  doubt  both  of  these  criti- 
cisms have  had  a  certain  justification  in  the  actual  practice 
of  the  Church.  Yet  it  is  clear  that  both  rest  upon  a 
misconception  of  the  true  Christian  view. 

The  Christian  teaching  that  property  is  a  trust  is  never 
to  be  understood  as  justifying  any  method  of  acquiring 
property  which  violates  the  law  of  love,  for,  as  we  have 
already  seen,  the  principle  of  service  applies  to  the  con- 
duct of  industry  and  the  motives  with  which  one  engages 
in  it  as  fundamentally  as  to  the  possessions  acquired 
thereby.  One  cannot  carry  Jesus'  ideal  of  service  into 
industry  and  at  the  same  time  be  more  concerned  with 
private  profits  than  with  the  well-being  of  the  workers 
or  of  the  community  as  a  whole.  The  doctrine  of 
stewardship — that  all  which  men  have  they  have  from 
God  and  hold  in  trust  for  the  brotherhood — demands 
the  seeking  of  the  common  good  in  the  organization  of 
industry  and  in  the  use  of  natural  resources  from  which 
all  wealth  is  derived.  That  doctrine  is  an  inheritance 
from  Israel  and  underlies  the  Old  Testament  view  that 
"the  earth  is  the  Lord's  and  the  fulness  thereof."  The 
conception  of  divine  sovereignty  thus  held  will,  if  con- 
sistently applied,  make  the  Christian  concerned  to  secure 
such  an  organization  both  of  production  and  of  distribu- 
tion as  shall  most  fully  minister  to  the  well-being  of  all 
God's  children.  To  interpret  stewardship  as  affording 
a  sanction  for  great  private  wealth — on  the  ground  that 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    29 

God  has  given  it  to  its  present  possessor,  when  as  a 
matter  of  fact  he  may  have  it  as  the  result  of  an  unjust 
economic  system — is  to  travesty  the  doctrine. 

Still  less  is  the  other  objection  valid,  namely,  that  the 
doctrine  of  stewardship  identifies  the  Christian's  use  of 
money  with  charity.  Stewardship,  in  the  true  sense  of 
the  social  use  of  what  one  has,  involves  directing  all  one's 
energy  and  resources  to  securing  the  largest  good  of  man- 
kind. And  the  largest  good  is  always  inseparable  from 
justice  to  all.  When  poverty  or  need  exists,  the  practice 
of  stewardship  does,  indeed,  demand  charity  to  meet  the 
present  emergency,  but  it  demands  even  more  the  secur- 
ing of  such  social  arrangements  that  the  causes  of  suffer- 
ing shall  so  far  as  possible  be  removed.  To  consecrate 
all  that  one  has  and  is  to  God  is  to  dedicate  himself  to  the 
task  of  securing  a  social  order  that  is  thoroughly  just. 
The  Christian  teaching,  therefore,  will  not  let  us  ignore 
the  question  of  the  distribution  of  wealth. 

In  considering  Jesus'  own  view  on  this  question  it  is 
highly  essential  that  we  distinguish  between  His  attitude 
toward  personal  property,  which  we  have  discussed 
above,  and  His  attitude  toward  such  large  accumulations 
of  property  as  in  the  gospels  are  designated  as  "riches." 
When  we  make  this  distinction,  it  becomes  clear  at  once 
that  He  regards  great  material  wealth  as  a  moral  peril, 
obscuring  the  supremacy  of  personal  values  and  en- 
dangering the  spirit  of  brotherhood.  This  is  evident  from 
many  striking  passages  which  it  is  impossible  for  us  to 
read  out  of  the  gospels  or  to  explain  away.  This  is  why 
Jesus  insisted  that  one  "cannot  serve  God  and  mam- 
mon"^^  and  emphasized  "the  deceitfulness  of  riches."^^ 
Riches  choke  one's  interest  in  the  higher  values  of  spir- 
itual fellowship.  Hence  they  that  are  rich  can  only  with 
great  difficulty  enter  into  the  Kingdom.^^  The  danger  is 
so  great  that  we  find  Him  saying,  "Woe  unto  you  that  are 


"Matthew  6 :  24.    '"Mark  4 :  19.    '"Mark  10 :  23, 


30  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

rich,"  and,  in  contrast,  ^'Blessed  are  ye  poor/'^^  Such  an 
insidious  obstacle  to  the  brotherly  spirit  may  great  wealth 
become  that  the  possessor  must  "sell  all  that  he  has  and 
give  to  the  poor."^^  Not  only  the  possession  of  such 
riches,  but  the  pursuit  of  them  by  those  who  have  them 
not,  is  a  spiritual  peril,  so  that  to  one  who  covetously 
sought  an  inheritance  Jesus  replied,  "Who  made  me  a 
divider  over  you?'"  and  explained  his  reply  by  the 
parable  of  the  rich  fool  who  thought  that  a  man's  life 
consisted  in  the  abundance  of  the  things  that  he  pos- 
sessed.^^ 

All  this  is  still  true  today.  .  Quite  apart  from  the  use 
which  is  made  of  them,  very  great  fortunes  mean  diffi- 
culties in  the  way  of  realizing  the  Christian  ideal*  of 
brotherhood  which  we  must  face  frankly  if  we  would  be 
true  to  our  Christian  teaching.  For,  in  the  first  place, 
large  wealth  tends  to  separate  a  man  from  those  first- 
hand contacts  with  his  fellows  which  are  essential  to  the 
best  living.  Sympathy  is  harder  than  it  would  otherwise 
be.  Impulses  to  democratic  fellowship  are  hindered. 
Even  when  there  is  a  will  to  be  really  brotherly,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  use  one's  riches  for  others  in  ways  that  the  less 
favored  will  not  resent  as  paternalistic.  In  the  second 
place,  the  effect  of  great  riches  is  to  make  possible  dom- 
ination over  others.  Especially  is  this  so  when  one  owns 
the  materials  of  production  on  which  others  have  to 
depend.  The  temptation  to  exercise  undue  control  over 
their  lives  is  tremendously  increased.  Property  as  a 
means  of  control  is  open  to  all  the  difficulties  which  beset 
the  use  of  power  everywhere  and  may  even  issue  in  what 
is  practically  a  system  of  economic  slavery.  When,  as 
so  often  happens,  means  and  end  are  confused  and  money 
or  power  becomes  an  end  in  itself,  we  have  the  sin  of  sins 
— namely,  the  subordination  of  the  personal  to  that  which 
is  non-personal.  Hence  the  love  of  money,  according  to 
both  Jesus  and  the  Apostles,  is  a  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil, 

*'Luke  6 :  20, 24.    "Luke  18 :  22.    *'Luke  12 :  13-21. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    31 

and  covetousness — the  love  of  money  for  its  own  sake — is 
the  great  idolatry.^^ 

From  this  discussion  it  is  clear  that  in  our  thinking  as 
Christians  we  must  apply  two  practical  tests  to  the  pres- 
ent institution  of  property.  The  first  test  is,  How  far 
does  the  present  distribution  of  property  minister  to  the 
development  of  all  personalities  and  give  them  adequate 
opportunity  for  self-expression?  The  second  is,  How 
far  do  the  present  methods  of  the  conduct  of  industry 
and  the  acquisition  of  property  give  to  all  individuals 
that  proper  share  of  social  control  which  enables  society 
to  realize  the  Christian  ideal  of  a  brotherly  use  of  the 
material  possessions  that  God  has  provided  for  the  good 
of  the  race?  In  the  following  chapter  we  shall  examine 
the  present  industrial  order  in  the  light  of  these  standards. 

4.  Consequences  for  the  Christian  Social  Ideal 

The  Christian  principles  that  we  have  here  considered 
are  not  separable  strands  of  teaching,  but  are  intimately 
interrelated  as  parts  of  a  single  social  ideal.  This  ideal, 
which  Jesus  called  the  Kingdom  of  God,  is  nowhere 
described  in  detail  in  the  New  Testament,  nor  is  there 
specific  application  of  the  principles  to  concrete  problems 
of  industrial  organization.  Nevertheless,  these  prin- 
ciples are  sufficiently  clear  to  enable  us  to  picture  the  kind 
of  society  that  we  should  have  if  they  were  realized  in 
fact  today.  It  would  be  a  cooperative  social  order  in 
which  the  sacredness  of  every  life  was  recognized  and 
everyone  found  opportunity  for  the  fullest  self-expres- 
sion of  which  he  was  capable;  in  which  each  individual 
gave  himself  gladly  and  whole-heartedly  for  ends  that  are 
socially  valuable;  in  which  the  impulses  to  service  and 
to  creative  action  would  be  stronger  than  the  acquisitive 
impulses,  and  all  work  be  seen  in  terms  of  its  spiritual 
significance  as  making  possible  fulness  of  life  for  all  men ; 
in  which  differences  of  talents  and  capacity  meant  pro- 

"Colossians  3 : 5. 


32  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

portional  responsibilities  and  ministry  to  the  common 
good;  in  which  all  lesser  differences  of  race,  of  nation, 
and  of  class  served  to  minister  to  the  richness  of  an  all- 
inclusive  brotherhood ;  in  which  there  hovered  over  all  a 
sense  of  the  reality  of  the  Christ-like  God,  so  that  worship 
inspired  service,  as  service  expressed  brotherhood. 

But,  it  will  be  asked,  is  such  an  ideal  practicable? 
Beautiful  though  it  be,  can  it  ever  be  anything  more  than 
another  Utopia?  To  this  question  the  Christian  answer 
is  definite  and  unmistakable.  This  ideal  can,  indeed,  be 
realized.  For  it  is  not  merely  of  human  contriving;  it 
is  rooted  in  reality  itself.  The  Kingdom  of  God,  as  the 
social  ideal  which  expresses  the  true  relations  of  men  to 
one  another,  is  the  divine  goal  for  the  world  and  God  is 
able  to  bring  His  purposes  to  pass. 

There  are  Christians,  of  course,  who  hold  that  the  full 
realization  of  this  ideal  has  to  be  postponed  to  the  future 
life.  But  whatever  be  the  view  taken  as  to  how  far  the 
Christian  social  ideal  is  realizable  in  our  present  world, 
all  must  agree  that  it  sets, forth  the  way  of  life  to  which 
Christians  are  committed.  To  the  extent  that  we  our- 
selves live  according  to  these  principles  are  we  truly 
Christian,  for  God  as  revealed  in  Christ  wills  that  now 
and  always  we  should  value  all  human  personalities,  that 
our  primary  relationship  should  be  that  of  brothers,  that 
loving  service  should  be  the  controlling  motive  in  life. 
These  principles  also  give  us,  all  Christians  must  likewise 
agree,  the  standard  by  which  our  present  social  system 
must  be  judged.  To  the  extent  that  it  approximates  this 
ideal  in  all  phases  of  its  life  may  it  be  called  a  Christian 
system.  In  no  case  can  the  Christian  admit  that  there 
can  be  any  permanent  divorce  between  religion  and 
economics,  since  no  aspect  of  life  is  to  be  exempt  from 
the  sway  of  Christ.  Unless  Christian  principles  are 
really  applicable  to  industry,  we  cannot  claim  finality 
or  universality  for  Christianity.  Whether  the  final  con- 
summation of  the  ideal  is  to  come  soon  or  late,  by  slow 


THE  CHRISTIAN  IDEAL  FOR  SOCIETY    33 

degrees  or  by  sudden  cataclysm,  it  is  our  plain  and  un- 
escapable  responsibility  as  Christians  to  give  ourselves 
with  all  our  might  to  Christianizing  all  our  social  life. 

In  the  light  of  this  discussion  it  will  be  clear  what 
we  are  to  mean  in  this  inquiry  by  a  Christian  society.  By 
a  Christian  society,  in  the  sense  in  which  we  shall  use 
the  term,  we  shall  not  mean  a  society  committed  to  any 
special  form  of  industrial  organization  but  one  whose 
organization  shall  express  and  develop  a  certain  spirit  of 
life.  Nor  shall  we  mean  by  the  term  the  millennium,  or 
any  state  in  which  all  men  are  sanctified  and  human 
frailty  and  ignorance  done  away.  We  mean  a  society  in 
which  the  general  principles  and  fundamental  assump- 
tions are  Christian,  which  judges  itself  and  expects  to  be 
judged  by  thoroughly  Christian  standards;  a  society  such 
that  when  as  Christians  we  enter  into  the  various  secular 
callings  in  which  our  lives  must  be  lived  on  earth,  we 
do  not  find  our  fundamental  Christian  faith  invalidated 
by  assumptions  which  govern  conduct  in  the  economic 
sphere. 

With  this  point  of  view  we  shall  approach  our  present 
inquiry.  We  shall  take  up  one  by  one  the  Christian  prin- 
ciples which  we  have  found  to  define  our  ideal  for  so- 
ciety— personality,  brotherhood,  service — and  by  them 
shall  test  the  present  industrial  system.^^  We  shall  then 
ask  by  what  means  Christianity  would  secure  social  bet- 
terment and  what  changes  are  necessary  in  the  present 
system  in  order  to  make  it  Christian.  After  we  have  done 
this,  we  shall  be  in  a  position  to  consider  what  obligations 
our  principles  lay  upon  the  individual  Christian  in  his 
capacity  as  employer  or  employe,  producer  or  consumer, 
investor  or  citizen.  Finally,  we  shall  ask  what  special 
responsibility  rests  upon  the  Church  in  its  organized 
capacity  and  how  that  responsibility  can  best  be  dis- 
charged. 


*'^The  attitude  of  the  Church  to  economic  questions  in  the  past 
is  discussed  in  an  important  supplement  to  this  report. 


CHAPTER  II 

UNCHRISTIAN    ASPECTS    OF    THE    PRESENT 
INDUSTRIAL  ORDER 

We  have  concluded  that  as  Christians  we  are  com- 
mitted to  certain  fundamental  principles  concerning  our 
social  life:  the  sacred  worth  of  personality,  brotherhood 
as  the  primary  relationship  among  men,  and  service  in 
the  cominon  good  as  the  controlling  motive  in  human 
conduct.  We  are  now  to  take  these  principles  as  our 
standard  of  judgment  and  in  the  light  of  each  of  them 
endeavor  to  appraise  our  present  attainment,  with  a  view 
to  ascertaining  how  far  we  are  failing  to  secure  a  Chris- 
tian industrial  order. 

The  deficiencies  and  evils  that  arise  in  the  carrying  on 
of  the  functions  of  production  and  distribution  spring 
from  various  sources.  Some  are  due  to  limitations  in 
material  and  intelligence  or  to  accidental  circumstances, 
which  are  largely  beyond  our  power  to  control.  These 
are  not  the  concern  of  this  report.  Other  evils  arise  from 
the  sins  of  individuals — dishonesty,  laziness,  intemper- 
ance, or  improvidence.  With  these  religion  has  always 
been  concerned  because  of  its  message  to  the  individual 
soul,  but  they  are  so  fully  recognized  that  they  need  not 
be  the  main  interest  of  this  inquiry.  Our  present  concern 
IS  with  those  tendencies  and  results  in  our  economic  life 
which  are  due  not  simply  to  the  faults  of  individual 
workers  or  employers,  but  to  commonly  accepted  as- 
sumptions and  prevailing  points  of  view  inconsistent  with 
Christian  principles. 

In  the  day  of  simpler  industrial  relations  an  individual- 
istic ethics  was  fairly  sufficient,  but  in  the  vast  and  com- 
plex industrial  organization  of  today  it  is  no  longer 
adequate.     We  are  now  confronted  with  a  situation  in 

34 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  35 

which  men  and  women  whose  lives  are  Christian  in  their 
individual  and  family  relationships  and  who  by  intent 
would  be  Christian  in  the  whole  range  of  their  life,  par- 
ticipate in  and  accept  a  business  and  industrial  system 
which  in  many  grave  aspects  is  unchristian — and  this 
either  without  realizing  that  it  is  so  or  without  feeling 
able  to  change  the  conditions.  Christian  men  and  women, 
for  example,  receive  income  from  shares  of  stock  in  an 
industry  without  knowing,  or  indeed  having  any  way  of 
knowing,  whether  their  own  gain  has  been  at  the  cost 
of  a  decent  livelihood  for  workers  in  the  industry.  Or 
we  ride  in  comfortable  motor  cars  whose  rubber  tires 
have  been  cheaply  secured  only  through  the  modern 
industrial  slavery  of  the  people  of  the  Congo  or  other 
tropical  lands.  These  are  but  familiar  illustrations  of 
the  way  in  which  our  whole  economic  life  is  now  bound 
up  in  such  a  vast  complex  of  relationships  that  we  can  no 
longer  consider  simply  the  failings  of  individuals,  but 
must  examine  the  unchristian  social  attitudes  and  un- 
christian social  arrangements  in  our  industrial  order  as 
a  whole. 

Certain  aspects  of  the  existing  order,  when  clearly 
seen,  are  recognized  with  practical  unanimity  as  incon- 
sistent with  Christian  principles.  It  may,  indeed,  be 
said  that  they  are  so  well  known  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  dwell  upon  them.  But  the  very  fact  that  they 
are  familiar  may  lead  to  thoughtless  acquiescence,  unless 
we  frequently  remind  ourselves  how  unchristian  they  are. 
These  more  generally  admitted  evils  we  shall  consider 
first.  We  shall  then  be  better  able  to  take  up  that  part 
of  the  inquiry  in  which  there  may  be  more  difference  of 
judgment — namely,  whether  the  present  system  itself, 
in  its  fundamental  structure,  is  contrary  to  the  essential 
teaching  of  Christianity. 

When  one  examines  our  industrial  life  in  the  light  of 
Christian  principles,  he  discovers  that  our  failures  are  of 
two  kinds,  or  fall  into  two  groups.     There  are,  in  the 


36  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

first  place,  certain  prevalent  social  attitudes  that  are 
incompatible  with  the  Christian  interpretation  of  life; 
and,  in  the  second  place,  and  partly  as  the  consequence 
of  those  attitudes,  there  are  certain  ways  of  using  the 
existing  material  resources  of  mankind  that  hinder  the 
development  of  Christian  character  and  Christian  rela- 
tionships. For  the  sake  of  clearness  it  will  be  well  for  us 
to  consider  first  the  subjective  and  then  the  objective 
aspects  of  our  present  order  inconsistent  with  each  of  the 
Christian  principles  that  are  to  serve  as  our  standard  of 
judgment. 

I.  Aspects  of  Our  Industrial  Order  Inconsistent 

WITH    THE    SaCREDNESS    OF    PERSONALITY 

a.     In  Social  Attitude:  An  Impersonal  View  of  Labor, 

The  whole  point  of  view  which  regards  labor  as  pri- 
marily a  means  for  the  production  of  wealth,  rather  than 
as  the  human  ends  for  the  sake  of  whom  wealth  is  pro- 
duced, is  so  radically  at  variance  with  the  Christian 
estimate  of  the  worth  of  personality  and  the  Christian  in- 
sistence that  every  man  has  a  right  to  full  self-realization 
that  it  has  no  place  in  a  nation  presuming  to  judge  itself 
by  Christian  standards.  Yet  it  is  only  too  clear  that  there 
is  a  widespread  assumption  that  labor  is  to  be  considered 
chiefly  as  a  necessary  item  in  the  cost  of  production,  a 
commodity  to  be  bought  as  cheaply  as  possible,  like  coal 
or  cotton.  It  is  this  point  of  view  which  the  seer  in  the 
book  of  Revelation  denounces  in  scathing  terms  when  he 
describes  the  life  of  the  great  commercial  center  of  that 
ancient  world  and  catalogs  its  commodities  as  *'the 
merchandise  of  gold,  and  silver,  and  precious  stones  .  .  . 
and  wheat,  and  beasts,  and  sheep,  and  horses,  and 
chariots,  and  slaves,  and  souls  of  men."'^ 

The  very  prevalence  of  the  terms  "labor  market"  and 
"hands''  as  synonyms  for  the  men  who  work  in  industry 

^Rev.  i8 :  12, 13. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  37 

connotes  an  estimate  of  personality  incompatible  with 
the  clear  emphasis  of  Christianity  on  the  supremacy  of 
human  over  material  values.  For  it  is  impossible  to  sep- 
arate labor  from  the  laborer.  If  work  is  carried  on 
under  conditions  that  menace  health  and  welfare  it  is 
personality  that  is  crushed.  If  wages  are  such  as  to  deny 
decent  standards  of  living,  it  is  a  human  soul  that  is 
doomed  to  degradation.  From  the  Christian  viewpoint 
a  contract  for  labor  can  never  be  in  the  same  category  as 
a  contract  for  material  goods. 

We  heartily  recognize,  of  course,  that  at  present  in 
many  quarters  there  is  a  decided  tendency  to  disclaim  the 
theory  that  labor  is  a  commodity.  Workmen's  accident 
insurance  laws  are  a  practical  assertion  that  labor  cannot 
be  considered  apart  from  the  laborer.  Not  a  few  large 
employers  and  capitalists  have  publicly  expressed  their 
conviction  that  in  any  industrial  program  human  values 
should  have  the  first  consideration.^  John  D.  Rocke- 
feller, Jr.,  for  example,  in  his  well  known  address  on 
"Representation  in  Industry,"  says :  "The  soundest  in- 
dustrial policy  is  that  which  has  constantly  in  mind  the 
welfare  of  employes  as  well  as  the  making  of  profits, 
and  which,  when  human  considerations  demand  it,  subor- 
dinates profit  to  welfare.  Industrial  relations  are  es- 
sentially human  relations.  .  .  .  The  day  has  passed  when 
the  conception  of  industry  as  chiefly  a  revenue-producing 
process  can  be  maintained."  But  our  economic  life  as  a 
whole  has  still  far  to  go  before  it  comes  to  an  unmis- 
takable and  general  acceptance  of  the  primacy  of  human 
values  and  to  the  deliberate  application  of  this  principle 
in  industrial  organization.  The  public  at  large,  as  well 
as  employers,  needs  a  new  point  of  view,  since  purchasers 
of  goods  and  users  of  services  furnished  by  others  are  all 


^In  the  title,  as  well  as  in  the  content,  of  a  recent  well-known 
study  of  present  industrial  problems  this  point  of  view  is 
emphasized — "Industry  and  Humanity"  by  W.  L.  Mackenzie 
King,  Boston,  1918. 


38  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

too  prone  to  insist  on  cheapness  or  speed  without  regard 
to  what  their  demands  may  mean  for  those  engaged  in 
the  industry. 

The  tendency  to  regard  labor  simply  as  a  means  of 
production  has  been  greatly  intensified  by  modern  ma- 
chinery, which  has  often  had  the  effect  of  reducing  the 
man  almost  to  the  level  of  the  machine.  He  is.  left  to  do 
what  inventive  genius  is  unable  to  design  a  machine  to 
do.  The  process  of  manufacture  is  carried  to  a  higher 
and  higher  degree  of  specialization,  until  the  worker's  task 
tends  to  become  a  deadening  routine  and  he  himself 
hardly  more  than  a  semi-mechanical  part  of  the  factory. 
These  conditions  almost  inevitably  result  in  the  loss  of 
the  sense  of  personal  creation  and  fine  craftsmanship. 
In  the  simpler  days  before  the  advent  of  large-scale 
production  the  worker  helped  to  plan  the  work  and  with 
his  own  strength  and  skill  carried  it  into  execution.  In 
such  a  task  a  man  could  really  find  self-expression.  But 
now  he  does  not  plan  the  work  or  any  part  of  it,  and 
everything  except  the  monotonous  details  is  accomplished 
by  an  automatic  machine.  The  work  no  longer  seems 
really  his.  The  factory,  therefore,  means  barren  mo- 
notony for  millions  of  men,  deadens  their  imagination,  and 
robs  them  of  any  sense  of  creative  joy.  And  in  these 
results  we  have  had  an  altogether  too  complacent 
acquiescence.  If  we  are  seriously  concerned  about  the 
development  of  personality  we  ought  to  be  earnestly  seek- 
ing ways  of  affording  to  modern  workers  opportunity  for 
self-expression  in  their  tasks,  by  giving  them  industrial 
education  and  making  it  possible  for  them  to  share  in 
directing  the  industry  as  a  whole.  At  the  very  least,  we 
ought  to  guarantee  them  sufficient  leisure  for  self- 
development  in  other  activities  outside  the  factory.  We 
have  shown  an  inexcusable  apathy  toward  this  destruc- 
tion of  human  values  in  the  process  of  producing  things. 
We  have  been  concerned  with  impersonal  goods,  with 
profits  and  dividends,  forgetting  that  the  factor  which  we 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  39 

indifferently  spoke  of  as  "labor''  is  nothing  less  than  im- 
mortal souls  for  whom  the  Lord  Christ  died. 

b.  In  Objective  Results:    Dwarfing  of  Personality. 

When  we  turn  from  a  consideration  of  our  social  at- 
titude on  the  subject  of  the  sacredness  of  personality  to 
a  consideration  of  the  practical  expressions  of  that  atti- 
tude in  our  industrial  life,  we  find  a  present  dwarfing  of 
personality  on  a  vast  scale.  The  factors  that  produce  it 
we  shall  now  briefly  consider. 

(i)  Lack  of  Continuous  Opportunity  to  Work. 

One  of  the  appalling  tragedies  of  our  modern  industrial 
life  is  that  so  many  who  are  able  and  anxious  to  work 
often  cannot  find  opportunity  to  do  so.  There  is  always 
a  considerable  degree  of  unemployment  and  in  times  of 
industrial  depression  millions,  through  no  fault  of  their 
own,  are  denied  the  chance  to  earn  a  living.  We  may 
not  like  to  have  it  put  in  such  ugly  words,  but  it  is  actually 
the  truth  that  workers  are  frequently  tossed  aside,  when 
occasion  arises,  like  other  useless  parts  of  a  machine. 

What  unemployment  means  in  terms  not  simply  of 
physical  distress  but  of  mental  anguish,  harassing  fears, 
blighted  hopes,  and  crushed  ambitions  for  a  better  life, 
both  for  oneself  and  for  those  depending  on  him,  is 
altogether  inadequately  recognized.  It  is  a  situation  to 
which  we  have  become  heartlessly  indifferent  through 
long  use.  Nor  do  we  half  appreciate  what  even  the  pos- 
sibility of  unemployment  means — the  constant  apprehen- 
sion that  is  caused  in  the  minds  of  the  great  majority 
of  wage  earners  even  when  at  work  by  the  fear  that 
dismissal  may  occur  at  a  week's  or  a  day's  notice,  without 
any  fault  of  the  worker  and  without  any  assurance  that 
another  opportunity  for  self -maintenance  is  available. 
Most  serious  of  all  are  the  demoralizing  effects  of  con- 
tinued unemployment  on  character,  an  aspect  of  the 
problem  that  directly  affects  the  task  of  the  Church.    The 


40  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

man  who  would  work,  but  perforce  cannot,  eventually 
becomes  a  man  who  does  not  want  to  work  when  he  may. 
Habits  of  shiftlessness  and  dependence  are  developed, 
resulting  in  a  general  weakening  of  moral  fiber.  Ambition 
for  success  appears  to  be  futile  when  after  one's  best 
efforts  the  ruthless  working  of  the  law  of  supply  and  de- 
mand casts  him  aside  as  one  who  has  no  place  to  fill  in  the 
economic  life  of  the  world.  The  final  result  is  that  the 
unemployed  often  become  unemployable.  The  statement 
of  the  British  Quaker  Employers  is  by  no  means  exag- 
gerated: "Regarding  the  industrial  life  of  the  worker 
from  the  standpoint  of  his  whole  personality  hardly  any- 
thing is  of  greater  moment  than  that,  while  he  is  willing 
to  work  and  capable  of  doing  so,  he  should  be  able  to 
work  upon  a  regular  income.  It  is  universally  acknowl- 
edged that  insecurity  of  employment,  which  is  found  in 
the  most  aggravated  form  among  casual  workers,  has  a 
deteriorating  effect  upon  both  physique  and  character.'*^ 
So  many  people  are  entirely  unaware  of  the  serious 
amount  of  unemployment  that  it  may  be  well  to  give  some 
indication  of  the  situation,  even  though  exact  statistics 
cannot  be  secured.  The  United  States  Census  showed 
that  in  1900  as  many  as  6,000,000  working  people,  or 
nearly  twenty-five  per  cent  of  all  engaged  in  gainful 
occupations,  had  been  unemployed  at  some  time  during 
the  year,  nearly  one-half  of  these  losing  from  one  to 
three  months  each,  more  than  a  third  losing  from  four 
to  six  months  each,  and  nearly  750,000  losing  even  seven 
to  twelvemonths  each.^  In  1915  the  United  States  Bureau 

*Their  further  comment  is  significant:  "We  believe,  moreover, 
that  restricted  output  and  opposition  to  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery are  almost  always  the  result  of  the  employe's  fear  that 
he  or  his  fellow-worker  may  be  thrown  out  of  employment." 
See  "Quakerism  and  Industry,"  edited  by  J.  E.  Hodgkin,  North 
of  England  Newspaper  Company,  1918,  pages  132-134.  A  con- 
venient summary  of  the  conclusions  may  be  found  in  the  Survey, 
Nov.  23,  1918. 

*See  Commons  and  Andrews,  "Principles  of  Labor  Legislation," 
p.  261.  Similar  data  were  collected  in  the  Census  of  1910,  but 
so  far  as  we  know,  have  not  yet  been  published. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  41 

of  Labor  Statistics  estimated  that  in  New  York  City 
442,000,  or  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  wage  earners,  were 
unemployed.^  In  the  same  year  the  Federal  Commission 
on  Industrial  Relations  reported:  "The  number  of  un- 
employed persons  even  in  normal  times  is  appallingly 
great.  The  statistics  of  highly  organized  trades  show 
that  even  in  times  of  greatest  industrial  activity  there  is 
a  considerable  percentage,  ranging  from  seven  to  fifteen 
per  cent  of  all  of  the  members  of  unions  in  different 
trades  or  industries,  of  workers  who  are  unemployed 
during  the  year.  In  any  year  the  unemployed  who  con- 
gregate in  the  large  cities  alone  during  the  winter  months 
number  several  hundred  thousand,  while  in  years  of 
industrial  depression  the  number  of  unemployed  in  the 
entire  country  is  at  least  3,000,000."^  A  recent  study, 
probably  as  authoritative  as  any  that  could  be  made,  of 
fluctuations  in  employment,  concluded  that  at  all  times 
between  1902  and  191 7  from  one  to  six  million  workers, 
exclusive  of  farm  laborers,  were  unemployed  in  the 
United  States  and  that  ''the  average  number  of  unem- 
ployed has  been  2,500,000."'^ 

Summarizing  the  general  situation,  the  Commission 
on  Industrial  Relations  concluded:  "A  careful  analysis 
of  all  available  statistics  shows  that  in  our  great  basic 
industries  the  workers  are  unemployed  for  an  average 
of  at  least  one-fourth  of  the  year.'*^  The  careful  find- 
ings of  Messrs.  Lauck  and  Sydenstricker  in  1917  roughly 
corroborate  this  estimate,  as  they  concluded  that  the 
average  wage  earner  in  the  leading  manufacturing  and 
mining  industries  operating  throughout  the  normal  year 


''Bulletin  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  No.  172,  pp. 

6,7. 

''Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations,  pp. 
162,  163,  Washington,  D.  C,  1915. 

^"Fluctuation  in  Unemployment  in  Cities  of  the  United  States, 
1902  to  1917,"  by  Hornell  Hart,  Cincinnati,  O.,  pp.  51,  52;  quoted 
by  D.  D.  Lescohier,  "The  Labor  Market,"  N.  Y.,  1919,  p.  11. 

*Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations,  p.  34. 


42  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

loses  from  ten  to  twenty  per  cent  of  his  possible  working 
time.^  This  unemployment  is  due  to  various  causes — ill- 
ness, accidents,  unwillingness,  and  strikes,  as  well  as  lack 
of  opportunity — but  the  Commission  reported  that  "lack 
of  work  . . .  either  in  a  locality  or  section  or  in  the  country 
as  a  whole,  accounts  for  approximately  two-thirds  of  the 
average  worker's  loss  of  time  at  work,  according  to  the 
available  data  on  this  point/' 

The  burden  of  this  situation  has  been  borne  by  the 
workers,  not  by  the  industry  as  a  whole  or  by  the  general 
public,  that  is,  by  those  least  able  to  bear  it  and  not  re- 
sponsible for  it.  While  we  have  made  careful  pro- 
visions for  protecting  property  rights,  we  have  done  little 
to  protect  the  human  right  to  opportunity  for  continuous 
self-maintenance  through  steady  work.  We  have  not 
even  seriously  begun  to  face  our  social  responsibility  for 
a  situation  that  has  tragic  human  significance  for  millions 
of  men. 

(2)  Inadequate  Income. 

The  Church  is  interested  in  the  question  of  wages 
because  a  certain  amount  of  income  is  essential  to  the 
development  of  worthy  personality.  For  multitudes  of 
men  and  their  families  physical  well-being,  education, 
cultural  interests,  recreation,  even  moral  and  spiritual 
development,  depend  in  large  measure  upon  the  size  of 
the  pay  envelope.  If  the  struggle  for  bare  existence  con- 
sumes all  one's  energies,  there  is  scant  vigor  and  vitality 
for  the  growth  of  the  higher  life.  Such  an  unending 
struggle  dulls  the  spirit  of  hope  and  smothers  aspiration. 
Moreover,  low  income  involves  inadequate  housing  facil- 
ities and  so  militates  against  the  best  standards  of  family 
life.  Anyone  who  has  seen  the  homes  of  the  lowest  paid 
classes  of  wage  earners,  in  squalid  surroundings,  crowd- 
ing a  family  into  two  or  three  rooms,  lacking  sunlight  and 

"Lauck  and  Sydenstricker,  "Conditions  of  Labor  in  American 
Industries,"  New  York,  1917,  p.  74. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  43 

air,  affording  no  opportunity  for  quietness  or  privacy, 
does  not  need  to  be  told  that  meagerness  of  income  is  a 
large  factor  in  preventing  the  normal  growth  of  the 
human  spirit. 

It  may  be  objected,  however,  that  poverty  is  a  condition 
conducive  to  the  spiritual  life.  And  it  is  undoubtedly 
true  that  poverty,  in  the  sense  of  not  being  unduly 
cumbered  with  material  possessions,  does  minister  to  the 
life  of  the  spirit.  This,  however,  must  not  be  confused 
with  the  modern  industrial  poverty  that  dooms  men  and 
women  and  children  to  degrading  environment,  under- 
nourished bodies,  impoverished  imaginations,  weakened 
vitality,  and  blighted  hopes.  Such  conditions  have  the 
very  opposite  effect  of  the  kind  of  poverty  which  Jesus 
and  St.  Francis  of  Assisi  commended,  for,  instead  of 
freeing  men  from  undue  economic  concern,  they  put  men 
in  bondage  to  it  by  necessitating  a  ceaseless  struggle  for 
physical  existence  itself. 

The  evidence  that  great  numbers  of  workers  receive 
wages  insufficient  to  afford  the  material  environment 
needed  as  the  basis  of  "the  good  life"  is  so  convincing 
as  not  to  be  open  to  question  and  forbids  any  easy 
optimism  as  to  economic  justice.  In  1910  the  Federal 
Census  found  the  average  yearly  income  of  wage  earners 
in  manufacturing  industries  to  be  $517.91.  In  1912  a 
careful  inquiry  resulted  in  the  estimate  that  upwards 
of  sixty  per  cent  of  all  our  adult  male  wage  earners 
received  only  about  $600  per  year  and  ninety  per  cent 
under  $1,000.1^  In  1915  the  Commission  on  Industrial 
Relations  reported  that  not  less  than  two-thirds  of  the 
adult  male  wage  earners  in  factories  and  mines  received 
less  than  $750  per  year,  the  lowest  sum  which  could  then 
be  regarded  as  a  living  wage  for  a  family  of  five.  It 
further  reported  that  between  one-fourth  and  one-third 
received  less  than  $500,  and  in  neither  of  these  estimates 

'^T.  H.  Streightoflf,  "The  Distribution  of  Incomes  in  the  United 
States,"  Columbia  University  Studies,  1912,  No.  2,  p.  139. 


44  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

was  any  deduction  made  for  lost  working  time.^^  The 
general  summary  of  the  Commission  was  that  an  income 
sufficient  to  support  in  comfort  the  worker,  a  wife,  and 
three  minor  children,  and  in  addition  to  provide  for  sick- 
ness, old  age,  and  disability,  "is  not  received  by  fully  one- 
half  of  the  wage  earners  employed  in  industry/'^^ 

The  income  of  the  family  is,  of  course,  often  somewhat 
larger  than  the  income  of  the  single  wage  earner.  Yet 
the  studies  of  Professor  King  in  191 5  showed  that  more 
than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  families  of  this  country  re- 
ceived less  than  $800  as  an  annual  income.^^  Messrs. 
Lauck  and  Sydenstricker,  accepting  $800  as  the  minimum 
family  standard  in  191 7,  concluded  that  it  was  "an 
inescapable  fact  that  a  very  large  proportion,  possibly  a 
half,  of  the  wage  earners'  families  in  the  principal  indus- 
tries of  this  country  have  been  below  that  level  during 
the  past  few  years."^^  Such  a  situation  means  that  a  still 
larger  body  of  wage  earners  are  only  a  few  weeks  re- 
moved from  destitution.  No  wonder  that  the  investiga- 
tions of  the  Children's  Bureau  of  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Labor  show  that  the  babies  of  the  poorer 
working  class  in  industrial  centers  stand  only  a  third  as 
much  chance  to  live  as  those  of  the  well-to-do.  How 
much  less  chance  still  do  they  stand  of  receiving  adequate 
education,  growing  up  in  wholesome  surroundings,  and 
developing  personality  to  the  full  ? 

These  reports  all  have  to  do  with  the  period  preceding 
the  war  and  therefore  represent  more  normal  conditions. 
Wages  have,  of  course,  greatly  risen  since  that  time,  but 
it  is  generally  agreed  that  on  the  average  they  have  no 
more  than  kept  pace  with  the  increased  cost  of  living. 


"Final  Report  of  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations,  p.  25. 
"Final    Report   of    Commission    on   Industrial    Relations,    pp. 

93,  94. 

"W.  I.  King,  "The  Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,"  N.  Y.,  1919,  p.  228. 

"Lauck  and  Sydenstricker,  "Conditions  of  Labor  in  American 
Industries,"  p.  Z7^' 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  45 

The  War  Labor  Board  in  June,  1918,  regarded  $1,380  as 
a  "minimum  subsistence  wage"  for  a  family  of  five  and 
$1,760.50  as  a  "minimum  comfort  wage/'  For  August, 
1919,  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  the  United  States  De- 
partment of  Labor,  on  the  basis  of  a  careful  inquiry  into 
current  prices,  estimated  a  minimum  wage  to  maintain  a 
family  of  five  in  the  District  of  Columbia  at  "a  standard 
of  health  and  decency"  as  about  $2,250.  This  was  pre- 
sented as  in  no  sense  an  ideal  budget,  but  one  "below 
which  no  family  can  go  without  danger  of  physical  and 
moral  deterioration."  It  does  not  provide  for  savings, 
except  insurance,  for  any  vacation,  for  books,  or  other 
forms  of  education.  Corrected  to  1920,  to  allow  for  the 
increase  in  living  costs  since  the  estimate  was  made, 
it  would  now  stand  at  about  $2,500.^^  As  the  result 
of  an  extensive  industrial  survey,  the  United  States 
Department  of  Labor  has  found  that  between  191 3 
and  the  spring  of  1919  the  hourly  wage  had  advanced  in 
eleven  of  the  major  industries  between  51  per  cent  in  the 
case  of  (lumber)  mill-work  and  121  per  cent  in  the  case 
of  the  iron  and  steel  industry  as  a  whole.  For  the  other  in- 
dustries the  increase  ranges  between  these  two  extremes. 
For  the  same  period  as  that  covered  by  these  percentages 
carefully  prepared  statistics  show  that  the  cost  in  living 
had  advanced  75  per  cent.^^  In  six  out  of  the  eleven 
industries  on  w^hich  figures  are  given  the  average  hourly 
wage  had  increased  slightly  more  than  the  cost  of  living. 
In  five  of  the  eleven  the  hourly  wage  showed  a  smaller 


^^See  "Studies  of  the  Cost  of  Maintaining  a  Family  at  a  Level 
of  Health  and  Reasonable  Comfort,"  presented  by  W.  Jett  Lauck 
before  the  U.  S.  Railway  Board,  1920.  Other  figures  for  the 
present  day,  based  on  former  estimates  of  Professor  Ogburn, 
the  Philadelphia  Bureau  of  Municipal  Research,  and  the  National 
Industrial  Conference  Board,  are  approximately  $2,200,  $2,100, 
and  $1,790  respectively. 

^^ Monthly  Labor  Rcviezv  oi  the  United  States  Department  of 
Labor,  Washington,  D.  C,  November,  1919,  pp.  191-193.  The 
Labor  Review  iov  March,  1920,  shows  an  increase  of  104  per  cent 
between  January  11,  1913,  and  January  11,  1920,  in  the  average 
retail  prices  of  the  chief  articles  of  food. 


46  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

increase  than  the  cost  of  Hving.  The  fair  inference 
would  be  that  the  situation  is  about  the  same  as  before 
the  war. 

These  bare  statistics  fail  to  give  any  adequate  con- 
ception of  their  meaning  in  terms  of  human  values. 
They  do,  however,  make  it  unmistakably  clear  that  hosts 
of  men  and  women  still  lack  sufficient  material  goods  for 
adequate  self-realization. 

(3)   Inadequate  Leisure. 

The  Church  is  concerned  about  the  length  of  the  work- 
ing day  because  a  certain  amount  of  leisure  is  a  necessary 
condition  of  the  higher  life.  Unless  hours  of  work  are 
such  as  to  permit  men  to  recuperate  after  the  day's  labor, 
to  mingle  with  their  fellows,  to  have  companionship  with 
the  family,  to  have  time  both  for  play  and  for  self- 
improvement,  there  is  small  opportunity  either  for  the 
development  of  good  citizenship  or  the  strengthening 
of  spiritual  interests  and  participation  in  the  organized 
religious  life  of  the  community.  The  need  for  leisure 
IS  all  the  greater  when  the  tasks  which  men  are  doing 
involve  the  strain,  the  speeding  up,  the  routine,  and  the 
deadening  monotony  of  modern  machine  production. 
Under  such  conditions  work  itself  is  so  uneducative  that 
the  enrichment  of  personality  has  to  be  mainly  found  in 
the  hours  spent  outside  of  the  factory. 

The  Church  is  also  interested  in  the  length  of  the  work- 
ing day  because  there  is  a  lessening  of  moral  and  spiritual 
vitality  from  over-fatigue.  This  insidious  effect  on 
character  assumes  serious  proportions  when  such  over- 
fatigue is  not  occasional  but  continuous,  because  of 
excessive  hours  of  toil  and  insufficient  time  for  restora- 
tion to  normal  vitality  before  the  next  day's  work  begins. 
That  the  present  working  day  under  existing  working 
conditions  is  in  large  areas  of  our  industrial  life  so  long" 
as  to  produce  harmful  effects  upon  the  body,  and  there- 
fore on  mind  and  soul  as  well,  is  hardly  open  to  doubts 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  47 

The  report  of  the  Committee  of  One  Hundred  on 
National  Vitality,  summarizing  the  best  judgment  of 
both  medical  and  economic  science,  declared  a  few  years 
ago  that  "the  present  working  day,  from  a  physical 
standpoint,  is  altogether  too  long  and  keeps  the  majority 
of  men  and  women  in  a  continual  state  of  over-fatigue," 
and  that  the  resulting  economic  loss  *'is  probably  much 
greater  than  the  waste  from  serious  illness/'^'^  Such 
a  lessening  of  physical  vitality,  involving  also  a  lowering 
of  spiritual  power,  means  that  resistance  to  temptation 
as  well  as  to  disease  is  definitely  lessened.  After  long 
hours  of  toil  at  mechanical  tasks,  the  saloon,  the  sensa- 
tional motion  picture,  or  some  other  line  of  least  resist- 
ance becomes  the  natural  outlet  for  strained  and  jaded 
nerves. 

Yet  our  present  industrial  order  still  denies  to  great 
numbers  the  leisure  that  is  the  necessary  condition  of 
full  development  of  personality.  "Out  of  the  6,615,046 
wage  earners  enumerated  in  1909  by  the  Census  of  Manu- 
factures, only  7.9  per  cent  were  employed  in  establish- 
ments where  the  eight-hour  day  prevailed.  'Prevailing 
hours'  for  three-quarters  of  them  were  from  fifty-four 
to  sixty  weekly.  But  no  fewer  than  344,011,  or  5.2  per 
cent  of  the  whole  number,  worked  where  prevailing  hours 
were  between  sixty  and  seventy-two  weekly;  116,083 
worked  in  establishments  where  the  seventy-two  hour 
week  prevailed,  and  114,118  where  the  prevailing  hours 
were  more  than  seventy-two.  Out  of  the  eighty-six  prin- 
cipal manufacturing  industries  employing  more  than 
J 0,000  wage  earners  in  1909,  twenty  employed  over  ten 
per  cent  of  their  workers  more  than  sixty  hours  a  week. 
Among   those   exacting  more   than   seventy-two   hours 


"The  report  on  National  Vitality,  prepared  for  the  National 
Conservation  Commission  by  Professor  Irving  Fisher,  Govern- 
ment Printing  Office,  1909.  See  pp.  44-48.  The  length  of  the 
working  day  has,  of  course,  been  considerably  shortened  for 
many  workers  since  the  issuance  of  this  document,  but  its  gen- 
eral conclusions  are  still  valid. 


48  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

weekly  from  several  thousand  employes  were  beet  sugar, 
cement,  chemical,  glucose,  and  sugar  and  molasses  fac- 
tories, coke  works,  gas  plants,  the  manufacture  of  ice 
and  lime,  petroleum  refineries,  blast  furnaces,  and  rolling 
mills."i8 

Considerable  gain  in  shortening  the  working  day  has 
been  made  since  this  Federal  Census  was  taken,  particu- 
larly during  the  period  of  the  war.  Comparatively  few 
employes  in  the  United  States,  except  in  the  building 
trades,  enjoyed  the  benefits  of  the  eight-hour  day  previous 
to  the  war.  The  attitude  of  the  Government  as  expressed 
in  the  Adamson  Law,  granting  a  basic  eight-hour  day  to 
railway  employes,  and  in  many  decisions  of  the  National 
War  Labor  Board  caused  the  movement  for  the  eight- 
hour  day  to  gain  no  small  headway  until  "today  there  is 
scarcely  a  trade  or  industry  that  does  not  contain  many 
eight-hour  workers"  although  *'in  many  cases  the  eight- 
hour  day  is  simply  basic  and  not  actual."^^  These 
gains,  however,  have  been  secured,  in  the  main,  not  so 
much  through  the  force  of  enlightened  public  opinion  as 
through  the  success  of  the  workers  themselves  in  col- 
lective bargaining.  Only  grudgingly  and  under  pressure 
have  the  workers  been  granted  what  in  the  light  of  the 
Christian  estimate  of  the  worth  of  human  personality 
they  ought  long  ago  to  have  had. 

Yet  in  spite  of  gains  even  the  twelve-hour  day  is  still 
with  us  for  thousands  of  men.  According  to  the  recent 
testimony  of  the  head  of  the  United  States  Steel  Cor- 
poration before  the  Senate  investigating  committee, 
over  twenty-five  per  cent  of  its  employes  have  a  twelve- 
hour  day.2^    These  men,  moreover,  have  a  twenty-four 

"Commons  and  Andrews,  "Principles  of  Labor  Legislation,*' 

p.   200. 

^''Monthly  Labor  Review,  Nov.,  1919,  pp.  194-199. 

^^The  above  estimate  takes  into  account  all  employes  connected 
with  the  United  States  Steel  Corporation,  including  those  work- 
ing in  mines,  on  railways,  etc.  Of  those  actually  engaged  in 
the  manufacture  of  steel  probably  fifty  per  cent  have  a  twelve- 
hour  day,  as  is  admitted  by  the  he^d  of  the  Corporation. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  49 

hour  period  of  continuous  work  once  a  fortnight  when 
the  change  is  made  between  day  and  night  shifts.  Yet  as 
long  ago  as  1912  a  committee  of  its  own  stockholders,  of 
which  Mr.  Stuyvesant  Fish  was  chairman,  not  only  ex- 
pressed the  opinion  "that  a  twelve-hour  day  of  labor, 
followed  continuously  by  any  group  of  men  for  any  con- 
siderable number  of  years,  means  a  decreasing  of  the 
efficiency  and  lessening  of  the  vigor  and  virility  of 
such  men,''  but  also  ^asked  that  "the  question  should  be 
considered  from  a  social  as  well  as  a  physical  point  of 
view."2i  The  twelve-hour  day,  involving  at  least  thirteen 
hours  away  from. home,  means  that  for  the  worker  home 
becomes  hardly  more  than  a  place  to  eat  and  sleep,  that 
children  are  denied  a  father's  oversight,  wives  deprived 
of  the  full  partnership  of  husbands,  men  denied  the 
educative  influence  of  family  life,  and  the  community 
robbed  of  good  citizenship. 

An  important  aspect  of  the  question  of  leisure  in  which 
the  Church  should  have  a  peculiar  interest  is  the  right  of 
all  to  a  weekly  day  of  rest.  The  Church  has  always 
insisted  that  man  is  so  constituted  that  his  body,  mind, 
and  spirit  need  one  day  of  release  from  the  ordinary  toil 
of  the  week.  The  significance  of  the  rest-day  for  the 
development  of  moral  idealism  and  religion  can  hardly 
be  exaggerated.  In  the  words  of  a  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Georgia  in  upholding  a  Sunday  rest  law, 
"Without  specific  leisure  the  process  of  forming  character 
can  only  be  begun ;  it  can  never  advance  or  be  completed ; 
people  would  be  merely  machines  of  labor — nothing 
more."22  Yet  the  number  of  men  in  the  United  States 
who  work  every  day  in  the  week  can  be  told  only  in 
millions.     The  demands  of  modem  life  are  in  part  re- 

^'Quoted  in  the  Survey,  March  13,  1920,  p.  750,  from  a  state- 
ment to  the  presidents  of  the  constituent  companies  of  the  Steel 
Corporation  by  Edward  T.  Devine,  representing  the  Commission 
on  the  Church  and  Social  Service. 

^^Quoted  in  Commons'  and  Andrews'  "Principles  of  Labor 
Legislation,"    p.  202. 


50  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

sponsible  for  this  situation,  permitting  no  cessation  iri 
telegraph  and  telephone  service,  printing  of  newspapers, 
railway  and  trolley  transportation,  milk  delivery,  restau- 
rant service,  and  many  other  kinds  of  work.  But  "an- 
other large  group  of  industries,  important  among  which 
are  iron  and  steel  works,  cement  factories,  paper  and 
pulp,  flour  and  grist  mills,  usually  operate  continuously 
on  account  of  technical  requirements  or  sometimes  simply 
for  economy."  A  report  of  a  special  commission  on 
hours  of  labor  in  continuous  industries  in  1910  showed 
that  in  New  York  in  a  number  of  specified  industries 
nearly  20  per  cent  of  the  workers  were  engaged  in  seven- 
day  labor.23  In  Minnesota  an  investigation  in  1909 
showed  that  nearly  14  per  cent  of  all  the  gainfully  em- 
ployed males  in  the  state  were  working  every  day  in  the 
week.24 

In  these  wide  areas  of  modern  industrial  life  no  Sab- 
bath seems  to  have  been  made  for  man,  and  human  values 
are  being  crushed  by  denial  of  opportunity  for  rest. 
Even  though  in  some  industries  continuous  operation 
may  be  essential,  it  is  only  the  setting  of  profit  above 
personality  that  prevents  such  an  increase  in  the  working 
force  as  to  free  all  workers  from  their  toil  one  day 
out  of  the  seven. 

(4)  Dwarfing  the  Personalities  of  the  Future. 

The  dwarfing  of  human  personalities  today  through 
lack  of  opportunity  to  work,  insufficient  income,  and 
insufficient  leisure,  is  only  part  of  our  practical  denial 
of  the  Christian  estimate  of  the  worth  of  personality. 
Under  existing  industrial  conditions  we  are  also  mort- 
gaging the  character  of  future  humanity  through  toler- 
ating  the   working   of    children    for   gain   and   through 

"^New  York  State  Department  of  Labor,  Bulletin  No.  45,  pp. 
450,  451. 

^*Minnesota  Bureau  of  Labor,  Twelfth  Biennial  Report,  pp. 
104-1919;  quoted  in  Commons'  and  Andrews'  "Principles  of 
Labor  Legislation,"  p.  201. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  51 

inadequate  protection  of  the  women  workers  who  are 
to  be  the  mothers  of  the  race.  Women  and  children  in 
industry  present  a  special  problem,  both  because  they 
are  relatively  helpless  in  the  industrial  struggle  and 
because  injury  to  them  is  a  direct  injury  to  the  coming 
generation. 

(a)   Child  Labor. 

Nowhere  do  the  unchristian  aspects  of  our  social  order 
stand  out  more  clearly  than  in  the  exploitation  of  chil- 
dren for  selfish  gain.  The  issue  is  so  clear  that  it  hardly 
seems  necessary  to  say  that  when  the  lust  for  profit  on 
the  part  of  those  who  are  economically  strong,  or  the 
compulsion  of  necessity  on  the  part  of  those  who  are 
economically  weak,  drags  undeveloped  lives  away  from 
the  home  into  a  ruthless  industrial  machine,  we  have  a 
situation  utterly  at  variance  with  the  Christian  concep- 
tion of  the  potential  worth  of  human  personality.  A 
follower  of  Him  who  said,  "Suffer  the  little  children  to 
come  unto  me"  can  never  regard  these  lives  as  present 
means  for  the  production  of  material  things.  He  sees 
them  always  as  immortal  souls  with  a  right  to  full  de- 
velopment as  children  of  God. 

The  effects  of  premature  labor  upon  children  are  much 
more  far-reaching  than  dwarfed  physical  development. 
It  militates  against  their  future  efficiency  and  usefulness 
by  leading  them  into  "blind  alley*'  occupations  which 
train  them  for  no  occupation,  because  their  present  work, 
being  of  a  character  which  can  be  done  more  cheaply  by 
children,  leads  to  their  dismissal  after  a  few  years  to 
make  room  for  another  group.  Each  successive  group 
of  young  people  is  thus  left  on  the  industrial  scrap-heap 
just  when  they  reach  maturity.  So  "the  child  laborer  is 
the  father  of  the  man  without  a  job  or  with  only  a 
poorly  paid  job."^^    Adequate  education,  whether  secular 

^'^For  fuller  discussion  of  the  evil  of  "blind  alley"  occupations 
see  the  Anglican  Report  on  "Christianity  and  Industrial  Prob- 
lems," pp.  85-87. 


52  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

or  religious,  is  rendered  impossible.  Immature  lives  are 
taken  away  from  the  influence  of  the  home,  which  the 
Church  has  always  regarded  as  the  great  agency  for 
training  in  Christian  character.  They  are  early  exposed 
to  unnecessary  temptation,  and  vitality  for  resisting  it  is 
weakened.  The  evils  are  so  obvious  and  so  disastrous 
in  their  effect  upon  the  future  character  of  the  race  tlmt 
it  is  nothing  less  than  astonishing  that  the  Christian  con- 
science of  America  has  tolerated  them  so  long.. 

In  1910,  according  to  the  Federal  Census,  there  were 
approximately  2,000,000  children,  ten  to  fifteen  years 
of  age,  engaged  in  gainful  occupations  in  this  country.  Of 
children  under  fourteen  (not  including  those  under  ten, 
for  whom  figures  were  collected  but  not  published)  there 
were  upwards  of  a  million.  Two  states  still  have  no 
minimum  age  limit  whatever  for  children's  work  in  fac- 
tories and  mercantile  establishments;  one  permits  the 
labor  of  boys  under  twelve  and  girls  under  fourteen; 
sixteen  have  a  minimum  age  of  fourteen  but  with  speci- 
fied  exemptions.  Seventeen  states  have  no  maximum 
eight-hour  day  for  children;  seven  have  no  prohibition 
of  night  work  for  children.^^ 

The  realization  that  the  present  legislation  by  states  is 
insufificient  or  that  existing  laws  are  inadequately  en- 
forced has  led  to  efforts  to  secure  federal  legislation.  A 
bill  enacted  by  Congress  in  1916,  aiming  to  reach  child 
labor  through  the  power  of  the  Federal  Government  to 
control  interstate  commerce,  was  declared  unconstitu- 
tional. Last  April  a  federal  child  labor  measure  became 
effective  through  an  amendment  to  the  Revenue  Bill, 
whereby  a  tax  of  ten  per  cent  is  imposed  on  the  entire 
profits  received  by  any  mine  or  quarry  employing  chil- 
dren under  sixteen,  or  any  mill,  cannery,  workshop,  or 
factory  employing  children  under  fourteen,  or  children 


*'See  bulletin  of  the  National  Child  Labor  Committee,  "What 
Shall  the  Coming  of  Peace  Mean  to  the  Working  Children  of 
America?"  New  York,  1919. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  53 

between  fourteen  and  sixteen  for  more  than  eight  hours 
or  at  night.  At  the  present  moment  this  law  is  before 
the  United  States  Supreme  Court,  to  test  its  constitution- 
ality on  the  alleged  ground  of  its  infringing  upon  the 
authority  of  the  states. 

Even  if  the  recently  enacted  federal  law  is  sustained, 
there  is  still  a  vast  amount  for  the  Christian  conscience 
to  achieve.  This  law  reaches  only  certain  specific  indus- 
trial concerns,  namely,  mines,  quarries,  mills,  canneries, 
workshops,  and  factories.  Perhaps  this  is  as  far  as  a 
federal  measure  can  go,  but  further  legislation  by  states 
will  still  be  imperatively  demanded.  The  law  applies 
"only  to  occupations  in  which  are  found  but  fifteen 
per  cent  of  the  child  labor  of  America.  It  affords  no 
protection  for  the  unfortunate  hawkers  of  news  and 
chewing  gum  on  our  city  streets;  none  for  the  truck 
garden  conscripts  of  New  Jersey,  Pennsylvania,  Ohio, 
Colorado,  and  Maryland;  none  for  the  sweating  cotton 
pickers  of  Mississippi,  Oklahoma,  and  Texas;  none  for 
the  pallid  cash  and  bundle  girls  in  our  department  stores ; 
none  for  the  90,000  domestic  servants  under  sixteen  years 
of  age  who  do  the  menial  drudgery  in  our  American 
homes — none  for  any  of  these,  none  for  many  others."27 

Furthermore  the  provisions  of  the  federal  law  are  far 
from  adequate,  requiring  neither  an  educational  qualifica- 
tion nor  a  physical  examination  for  children  entering 
industry,  and  setting  lower  age  standards  than  we  can 
consider  finally  satisfactory.  Certainly  the  Christian 
conscience  cannot  be  content  with  less  than  the  abolition 
of  the  working  of  children  for  profit  unless  at  tasks  of 
real  educational  value.  It  must  insist  that  any  industry 
which  has  to  rest  on  child  labor  is  not  worth  preserving. 

(b)     Failure  to  Protect  Women  Workers. 

The  central  interest  of  the  Churches  in  family  life  be^ 

*'R.  G.  Fuller,  "Child  Labor  Now,"  National  Child  Labor  Com- 
mittee, New  York. 


54  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

cause  of  its  significance  for  the  future  character  of  the 
race  gives  them  a  direct  concern  in  the  safeguarding  of 
women  workers.  Their  entrance  into  industry  is  an 
aspect  of  modern  life  which  many  thoughtful  people  have 
felt  to  be  unfortunate.  In  the  present  situation,  however, 
the  practical  question  is  not  whether  women  shall  be 
employed  or  no,  but  whether  the  conditions  of  work  are 
to  be  conducive  or  detrimental  to  their  own  welfare  and 
the  future  welfare  of  society. 

The  war  has  tremendously  accelerated  the  entrance  of 
women  into  industry.  For  many  years,  however,  the 
number  of  women  engaged  in  industrial  occupations  has 
been  steadily  increasing  with  the  development  of  the 
factory  system.  In  1910  there  were  8,000,000  women 
bread-winners  in  the  United  States.  Approximately  one 
woman  out  of  every  five  was  employed.  The  estimate 
now  is  about  12,000,000  and  one  out  of  every  four 
women  is  at  work  in  a  paid  occupation.  The  greatest 
increase  has  been  in  the  industrial  trades.  A  govern- 
ment report  of  1914  listed  over  400  occupations;  in  only 
thirty-nine  were  no  women  employed.  Nor  is  the  em- 
ployment of  women  in  industrial  processes  confined  to 
any  special  section  of  the  country.  The  problem  is 
nation-wide.  California  fruit  and  vegetable  canneries 
employ  20,000  women.  Textile  mills  of  North  Carolina 
employ  25,000.  New  York  State's  industrial  plants  em- 
ploy more  than  350,000.  The  Annual  Report  of  the^ 
Railroad  Administration  shows  that  in  October,  1918, 
100,000  women  were  in  its  employ.  The  occupations 
which  welcomed  women  during  the  war  are  retaining 
them.  Reports  of  investigators  agree  that  "dismissals 
of  women  from  new  positions  are  insignificant  in  number 
and  the  big  dominating  fact  seems  to  be  that  women  have 
made  a  permanent  opening  in  industries  from  which  they 
were  practically  excluded  before  the  war.*' 

The  entrance  of  women  into  industry  has  seldom  been 
tinder  auspicious  circumstances.     Strikes,  periods  of  in- 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  55 

dustrial  depression,  wars,  have  led  them  into  new  occupa- 
tions. Men  out  on  strike  have  hated  women  strike  break- 
ers. Poverty  and  need  have  forced  women  to  undercut 
men  and  accept  very  low  pay.  They  have  been  accused 
of  being  an  unstable  element  in  industry,  lacking  in- 
terest in  the  job  for  the  job's  sake,  indifferent  to 
incentives  for  advancement — conditions  not  surprising  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  they  have  entered  industry  under 
haphazard  circumstances  and  have  had  no  opportunity 
to  choose  work  for  which  they  had  had  training  or  to 
which  they  were  adapted.  Investigations  have  clearly 
shown  that  women  go  into  industry  because  they  must 
live  and  their  children  and  dependents  be  clothed  and  fed. 
In  the  words  of  the  United  States  Census,  "It  is  the 
necessity  of  supporting  themselves  wholly  or  in  part  and 
perhaps  of  contributing  to  the  support  of  those  dependent 
upon  them  that  is  usually  the  impelling  motive."  Accord- 
ing to  official  reports,  young  girls  who  live  at  home  con- 
tribute from  twenty-eight  to  forty- three  per  cent  of  the 
total  family  income.  The  same  reasons  that  have  made 
women  go  into  industry  will  tend  to  keep  them  there. 
Their  work  was  formerly  in  the  home;  now  it  is  in  the 
factory  and  they  must  follow  it. 

When  we  realize  that  agitation  in  behalf  of  labor  legis- 
lation for  women  in  the  United  States  began  in  1845  ^^d 
that  now  seventy-five  years  later  only  ten  states^^  have 
a  legal  eight-hour  day  for  women,  we  can  hardly  be 
complacent  as  to  what  has  been  accomplished.  In  some 
states  an  eleven-hour  day  and  sixty-hour  week  is  per- 
mitted. Six  states  have  no  protective  legislation  what- 
ever on  the  subject  of  hours  of  work  for  women. ^^ 
The  ten-hour  day  is  a  custom  or  law  in  the  majority  of 
the  states.     Even  those  which  have  an  eight-hour  day 

^^These  states  and  territories  are  Washington,  California,  Ne- 
vada, Arizona,  Montana,  Colorado,  Utah,  Kansas,  District  of 
Columbia,  and  Porto  Rico. 

^'These  are  West  Virginia,  Florida,  Alabama,  Indiana,  Iowa, 
and  New  Mexico. 


56  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

permit  exemptions  in  industries  like .  canning,  in  several 
cases  the  major  industry  of  the  state.  In  the  matter  of 
prohibition  of  night  work  for  women  the  United  States 
is  among  the  most  backward  of  modern  industrial  coun- 
tries. Nineteen  states  have  no  legislation  on  the  subject. 
Ten  states  prohibit  night  work  for  women  in  factories 
and  mercantile  establishments  but  permit  exceptions. 
Yet  "the  ordinary  strains  and  stresses  of  industry  are  all 
intensified  in  night  work,  which  has  in  addition  dangers 
of  its  own."  Surely  the  Christian  must  insist,  as  the 
Government  recommended  during  the  war,  that  the  needs 
of  production  be  secured  "by  the  exercise  of  industrial 
resourcefulness,'*  not  by  such  a  sacrificing  of  the  present 
and  future  welfare  of  the  nation  as  is  involved  when 
women  are  compelled  to  work  long  hours  or  at  night. 

Studies  of  the  wages  of  women  continue  to  show  dis- 
crimination against  wqmen  workers  and  exploitation  of 
them  in  industrial  plants.  They  work  to  keep  from 
starving,  but  often  the  wages  they  receive  scarcely  serve 
that  end.^^  In  1917  an  investigation  in  Tennessee  of 
26,500  women  industrial  workers  showed  seventy  per 
cent  receiving  less  than  $9.00  a  week.  A  study  of  work- 
ers in  the  District  of  Columbia  in  1918  disclosed  the  fact 
that  of  800  women  interviewed  sixty-four  per  cent  re- 
ceived approximately  $10.00  a  week.  The  Minimum 
Wage  Board  of  the  District  of  Columbia  in  the  spring 
of  1919,  one  year  later,  fixed  the  minimum  living  wage 
for  women  in  the  printing  trade  at  $16.50.  An  investiga- 
tion in  New  York  State  in  November  and  December, 


^"Fourteen  states  and  the  District  of  Columbia  have  realized  the 
dangers  of  the  situation  and  enacted  minimum  wage  laws 
for  women,  but  many  of  the  existing  laws  are  not  adequate. 
The  decisions  of  the  Massachusetts  Minimum  Wage  Board,  for 
example,  are  only  recommendatory.  The  Supreme  Court  of 
Washington  recently  decided  that  a  woman  in  order  to  receive 
a  minimum  wage  must  work  seven  days  a  week,  thus  combining 
desirable  legislation  with  pernicious.  Nor  does  any  present  legis- 
lation make  the  attempt  to  secure  for  women  the  minimum  that 
men  ordinarily  receive. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  57 

1918,  covering  417  factories  with  33,000  women  on  their 
payrolls,  found  twenty  per  cent  receiving  less  than  $8.00 
a  week  and  sixty-eight  per  cent  receiving  less  than  $14.00 
a  week.  The  Bureau  of  Women  in  Industry  in  New  York 
State  published  in  March,  1919,  an  investigation  of  re- 
placement of  men  by  women  which  showed  that  out  of 
113*643  only  190  received  over  $20.00  a  week  and  two- 
thirds  received  less  than  $14.00.  Yet  these  were  women 
taking  the  place  of  men  in  essential  industries.  The  New 
York  investigation  further  disclosed  the  fact  that  only 
nine  per  cent  received  equal  pay  with  men  and  "that 
the  higher  the  pay  of  the  man  replaced  the  smaller  the 
chance  of  the  woman  replacing  hihi  to  receive  it.  .  .  .  The 
majority  of  men  replaced  at  equal  wages  received  between 
$12  to  $15  a  week,  a  wage  which  is  an  extremely  low  wage 
for  men  but  which  approaches  the  average  wage  paid 
to  women  throughout  the  State  and  is  less  than  it  costs  a 
woman  supporting  no  one  but  herself  to  live." 

The  present  situation  is  well  summarized  in  the 
Minority  Report  of  the  British  Commission  on  the  Re- 
lations between  Men's  and  Women's  Wages  by  Mrs. 
Sidney  Webb,  showing  "that  the  exclusion  of  women  by 
law  or  by  custom  from  the  better  paid  posts,  professions, 
and  crafts,  has  driven  them  to  compete  with  each  other, 
and  with  men,  in  the  lower  trades  of  each  vocation,  where 
they  have  habitually  been  paid  at  lower  rates  than  men 
for  equivalent  work,  on  the  pretense  that  women  are  a 
class  apart,  with  no  family  obligations,  smaller  needs,  less 
capacity,  and  a  lower  level  of  intelligence — none  of  these 
statements  being  true  of  all  the  individuals  thus  penal- 
ized.*' This  unjust  inequality  results  in  a  vicious  circle 
to  the  detriment  of  the  home — the  competition  of  the 
woman  lowering  the  wage  of  the  man,  his  low  wages 
forcing  her  to  work. 

Even  such  a  brief  survey  as  this  makes  it  clear  that  the 
present  situation  regarding  women  industrial  workers 
runs  counter  to  the  Christian  estimate  of  the  worth  of 


58  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

human  personality  and  the  dignity  of  womanhood,  the 
Christian  conviction  of  the  central  importance  of  high 
standards  of  family  life,  and  the  Christian  concern  for 
the  future  character  of  mankind. 

2.  Aspects  of  Our  Industrial  Order  Inconsistent 
WITH  Brotherhood 

To  anyone  who  should  come  from  another  planet  and 
for  the  first  time  observe  our  social  order,  brotherhood 
would  certainly  not  appear  a  distinguishing  feature.  The 
seeming  unreality  of  this  Christian  ideal  is  chiefly  due 
to  its  present  limitations  in  the  economic  realm.  Unless 
we  have  mutual  good  will  in  our  breadwinning,  which 
for  the  great  majority  of  men  constitutes  almost  their 
entire  existence,  we  cannot  reasonably  hope  that  brother- 
hood will  seem  much  more  than  a  Utopian  fancy.  We 
need,  therefore,  to  examine  carefully  the  ways  in  which 
we  are  now  failing,  both  in  our  mental  attitudes  and  in 
objective  results,  to  apply  this  principle  to  modern  in- 
dustrial life. 

a.  In  Social  Attitude:    A  Selfish  and  Divisive  Spirit  in 
the  Productive  Process. 

If  mankind  is  a  single  family,  with  common  interests 
and  common  needs,  the  good  of  any  member  must  be 
regarded  as  inseparable  from  the  well-being  of  them  all. 
They  must  recognize  themselves  as  bound  up  in  one 
bundle  of  life.  But  how  far  is  this  spirit  of  human 
solidarity,  involved  in  the  Christian  principle  of  brother- 
hood, actually  existent  in  our  industrial  life?  To  what 
extent  does  cooperative  good  will  now  prevail  ?  Is  there 
any  clear  recognition  of  a  unity  of  interests  and  a  gen- 
eral seeking  of  a  common  goal  ? 

The  question  almost  answers  itself.  An  assumption 
of  conflicting,  rather  than  of  common,  interests  is  one  of 
the  most  conspicuous  characteristics  of  our  present  atti- 
tude.    The  productive  process  is  usually  thought  of  as 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  59 

practically  a  selfish  competitive  struggle.^^  When  all  due 
allowance  has  been  made  for  the  many  firms  in  which 
mutual  good  will  prevails,  the  plain  fact  remains  that 
capital  and  labor  now  commonly  regard  themselves  as 
pitted  against  each  other  in  an  effort  to  get  the  larger 
share  of  the  joint  product.  On  either  side  it  is  less  a 
question  of  what  each  has  earned  by  serving  the  common 
good  than  of  what  each  is  strong  enough  to  wrest  from 
the  other.  The  house  of  industry  is  thus  divided  against 
itself.  There  is  room  for  divergent  judgment  as  to  how 
deep-seated  or  far-reaching  the  antagonism  of  competing 
interests  is,  but  all  admit  that  it  is  serious.  It  is  suffi- 
ciently evidenced  by  the  recurring  declarations  of  open 
hostility  in  the  form  of  strikes.  Such  a  situation  clearly 
rests  less  upon  the  principle  of  a  unity  of  interests  than 
upon  "  that  ancient  law,  that  well-known  plan,  that  those 
shall  keep  who  have  the  power  and  those  shall  take  who 
can."  So  divisive  of  human  solidarity  is  such  an  attitude 
that  it  constitutes  a  practical  denial  of  brotherhood. 

The  gravity  of  the  situation  lies  in  the  fact  that  the 
industrial  conflicts  which  are  now  so  frequent  are  not 
isolated  phenomena,  but  simply  acute  expressions  of  an 
underlying  spirit  almost  constantly  present.  Whether  a 
class  war  is  here  or  not,  the  roots  out  of  which  war  may 
grow  are  in  our  social  order.  So  long  as  we  accept  a  con- 
ception of  industrial  life  as  primarily  a  competitive  strug- 
gle in  which  any  group  is  to  take  all  that  it  is  strong 
enough  to  get,  subject  only  to  certain  legal  regulations, 
we  have  the  seeds  of  conflict  present  and  must  expect  that 
we  shall  eventually  reap  what  we  have  sown.  We  cannot 
expect  either  capital  or  labor  to  make  the  common  good 
the  first  consideration  in  times  of  crisis  if  it  is  a  second- 
ary consideration  in  normal  times. 

The  sharpness  of  this  antagonism  in  interests  has  been 
intensified  by  the  lack  of  a  spirit  of  brotherhood  in  the 

'^A  fuller  discussion  of  competition  in  the  light  of  Christian 
ethics  is  found  in  the  following  chapter. 


6o  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

development  of  the  natural  resources  on  which  all  our 
industry  depends.  It  is  from  the  bounty  of  nature,  giv- 
ing us  materials  which  human  skill  and  eifort  can  utilize, 
that  the  needs  of  all  the  people  have  to  be  satisfied. 
These  natural  resources,  however,  have  not  been  consid- 
ered as  the  gift  of  a  common  Father-Creator  for  the 
common  weal,  but  as  the  exclusive  possession  of  those 
who  could  muster  the  capital  necessary  to  exploit  them. 
In  our  natural  eagerness  to  develop  these  resources  of 
land,  timber,  oil,  and  minerals  we  have  allowed  the  in- 
dividuals who  held  the  position  of  economic  power  to  put 
their  own  advantage  above  the  good  of  the  community. 
The  present  result  is  a  division  of  interest  between  those 
who  control  this  wealth  and  those  who  possess  only  the 
labor  of  their  hands. ^^ 

Antagonism  and  suspicion  exist  not  merely  between 
capital  and  labor  but  also,  though  to  a  lesser  extent,  within 
each  of  these  groups  themselves.  It  is  only  too  well 
known  how  prevalent  it  has  been  between  rival  manufac- 
turers or  business  men.  Associations  of  manufacturers 
and  merchants  have  brought  about  an  increase  of  coopera- 
tion within  the  group,  but  it  is  not  uncommon  for 
them  to  seek  to  undercut  one  another,  to  force  each  other 
to  the  wall,  or  to  gain  an  advantage  by  dishonest  adver- 
tising. Within  the  ranks  of  labor  a  similar  narrowness 
of  spirit  is  likewise  manifest.  The  labor  movement  has 
been  developing  a  community  of  consciousness  among 
the  working  classes,  but  the  attitude  of  highly  skilled 
artisan  unions  toward  unskilled  labor,  of  American 
toward  foreign-speaking  laborers,  of  men  toward 
women  in  industry,  is  still  far  from  being  such  as  to  merit 
the  description  "brotherly."  The  trade-union  move- 
ment has  in  the  past  largely  ignored  the  burdens  of  the 
lowest  paid  labor.     Even  more  striking  has  often  been 


*^The  question  as  to  whether  this  cleavage  into  antagonistic 
groups  is  necessarily  connected  with  our  present  economic  order 
we  shall  postpone  till  the  following  chapter. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  6i 

the  attitude  toward  Negro  workers,  who  have  often 
been  denied  even  the  privilege  of  membership  in  the 
unions. 

Like  labor  and  capital,  the  general  public  is  largely- 
characterized  by  an  unbrotherly  attitude.  It  generally 
inclines  to  accept  the  status  quo  in  its  sympathies,  carry- 
ing on  the  ancient  prejudices  against  the  poorly  paid  and 
poorly  educated  classes,  assuming  that  life  is  a  struggle  in 
which  those  who  do  not  rise  fail  to  do  so  only  because 
they  are  unfit  to  enjoy  the  blessings  of  the  more  fortunate. 
The  "successful"  man  has  a  feeling  of  comradeship  with 
those  who  are  "successful**  like  himself,  but  usually  has 
an  attitude  of  superiority  and  callous  indifference  to  those 
outside  his  own  social  circle.  He  acquiesces  in  what 
amounts  to  an  aristocratic  order  of  society.  He  com- 
placently tolerates  a  physical  environment  for  others  that 
he  would  regard  as  degrading  for  his  own  family.  He 
feels  little  or  no  responsibility  for  their  lack  of  leisure, 
income,  education,  and  opportunity  for  self-expression — 
all  of  which  he  takes  for  granted  as  the  natural  right  of 
those  in  his  own  class.  All  this  depreciation  of  others 
than  the  members  of  one's  own  group  is  in  large  measure 
a  continuation  of  our  former  attitude  toward  slavery. 
The  slave  was  not  treated  as  a  weaker  member  of  the 
human  family,  whom  the  more  fortunate  members  were 
to  help.  He  was  regarded  as  belonging  to  an  inferior 
group  and  having  inferior  rights.  We  need  to  ask  our- 
selves whether  our  present  attitude  toward  those  who  now 
hold  the  position  of  economic  disadvantage  may  not  at 
some  future  day  be  considered  almost  as  much  a  denial  of 
genuine  brotherhood  as  we  now  see  chattel  slavery  to 
have  been. 

Within  certain  limits,  as  we  have  seen,  relative  dis- 
tinctions between  various  groups  may  legitimately  exist. 
The  men  whose  interests  are  most  closely  akin  naturally 
group  themselves  together.  It  may  be  a  useful  educa- 
tional expedient  that  individuals  engaged  in  the  same 


62  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

occupation  or  possessing  a  similar  background  of  training 
should  be  so  associated  as  to  feel  more  strongly  the  com- 
mon tie.  But  as  soon  as  these  groupings  come  to  serve 
as  barriers  between  man  and  man  instead  of  ministering 
to  an  inclusive  sense  of  human  fellowship  their  rightful 
purpose  is  thwarted.  The  point  of  view  which  accepts 
the  distinctions  between  the  groups  as  lines  of  cleavage  in 
sympathy,  or  assumes  the  continuing  subordination  of 
any  group,  must  be  recognized  as  the  fundamental  nega- 
tion of  brotherhood  which  it  is.  During  the  war  we  daily 
saw  wealthy  people  giving  solicitous  concern  and  friendly 
help  to  ordinary  soldiers.  Why  should  this  be  so  in  time 
of  war  and  cease  in  time  of  peace?  These  men  in  khaki 
were  the  same  men  who  dig  our  coal,  produce  our  food, 
manufacture  our  clothes,  and  in  other  ways  make  our 
life  possible.  But  we  show  little  or  no  comradeship  with 
them  now.  Why  not?  They  are  as  essential  to  our 
social  life  when  they  toil  for  us  as  when  they  fought  for 
us.  Did  we  honor  them  during  the  war  because  they 
were  soldiers  rather  than  because  they  were  our  brother- 
men  ?^^ 

This  unbrotherly  attitude  toward  those  who  do  not 
succeed  in  the  competitive  struggle  manifests  itself 
unmistakably  in  a  spirit  of  domination  on  the  part  of 
those  who  gain  sufficient  economic  advantage  to  be  able 
to  control  the  processes  of  production.  So  men  become 
divided  into  those  who  arbitrarily  control  and  those  who 
are  thus  controlled.^^  Even  if  autocracy  is  benevolent,  as 
of  course  it  often  is,  it  still  leaves  no  room  for  brother- 
hood. Kindly  autocracy  is  still  autocracy  and  stands  in 
the  way  of  a  full  development  of  personality  and  of  free 
cooperation  in  a   fraternal   spirit.^^     Paternalism,  even 


^'Cf.  George  Lansbury's  "Your  Part  in  Poverty,"  pp.  45-48. 

'^Tn  a  subsequent  section  of  this  chapter  we  shall  consider 
more  fully  the  consequences  of  this  spirit  of  domination  in  pro- 
ducing an  autocratic  industrial  organization. 

^^Cf.  the  statement  in  the  Report  of  the  Commission  on  "Per- 
sonal Life  and  Society"  of  the  Society  of  Friends:  "Benevolent  . 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  63 

though  well  meaning,  is  an  insidious  foe  to  democratic 
ideals.  The  absolute  monarch  may  be  kindly,  the  feudal 
lord  benevolent,  the  slaveholder  considerate,  but  v^e  no 
longer  think  of  them  as  having  a  place  in  a  Christian 
society.  So  domination  of  others  in  industry  cannot  be 
permanently  acceptable  to  the  Christian  conscience.  Au- 
tocracy always  means  some  sort  of  slavery  and  slavery 
is  the  denial  of  brotherhood. 

The  present  spirit  of  competitive  struggle  among  the 
members  of  the  human  family  and  the  unbrotherly  atti- 
tude toward  those  who  fail  are  perpetuated  and  intensified 
by  the  great  inequalities  in  the  distribution  of  wealth 
that  have  arisen  from  the  seeking  of  private  interests  in- 
stead of  the  common  good.  This  will  concern  us  in  the 
following  section. 

b.  In  Objective  Results:     Extreme  Inequalities  in  the 
Distribution  of  Wealth. 

That  there  are  appalling  inequalities  in  the  present 
distribution  of  wealth  and  income  is  everywhere  recog- 
nized. Even  an  approximate  statement  of  the  facts, 
however,  can  be  made  only  on  this  basis  of  a  statistical 
inquiry.  Probably  the  most  comprehensive  analysis  of 
the  existing  situation  was  made  by  Professor  W.  I.  King 
in  191 5  in  his  "Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States."  To  it  we  may  go  for  information,  and 
with  the  more  confidence  because  the  inquiry  was  made 
by  a  conservative  student. 

The  results  arrived  at  in  this  inquiry  show  the  relative 
distribution  of  wealth  among  four  classes:  the  poor, 
whose  possessions  consist  only  of  their  clothing,  furni- 
ture, and  personal  belongings;  the  lower  middle  class, 
whose  property  would  be  worth  perhaps  $1,000  on  the 


despotism  is  as  unchristian  as  it  is  undemocratic,  and  not  even 
the  most  well-intentioned  philanthropy  with  its  model  factories 
and  paternalism  and  generous  bequests  can  justify  the  false  re- 
lationship which  is  involved.^' 


64  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

average ;  the  upper  middle  class,  whose  possessions  would 
be  valued  at  from  $2,000  to  $40,000;  the  rich,  or  those 
having  wealth  of  more  than  $50,000.  According  to  this 
study  ''the  poorest  two-thirds  of  the  people  own  hut  a- 
petty  five  or  six  per  i:ent  of  the  wealth/*  The  lower 
middle  class,  composed  of  the  next  fifteen  per  cent  of  the 
inhabitants,  hold  about  four  per  cent.  The  upper  middle 
class,  made  up  of  the  next  eighteen  per  cent  of  the  people, 
possess  about  one-third  of  the  property.  The  rich,  con- 
stituting the  last  two  per  cent  of  the  population,  own  sixty 
per  cent  of  the  wealth. 

The  significance  of  these  figures  can  be  made  clearer 
by  summarizing  them  more  tersely.  Four-fifths  of  the 
population  own  scarcely  ten  per  cent  of  the  total  wealth, 
while  one-fiftieth  of  the  people  own  upwards  of  two- 
thirds.  As  much  as  one-fourth  of  the  entire  property  is 
in  the  hands  of  one-four-hundredth  part  of  the  people.^^ 
The  comment  of  the  Report  of  the  Commission  on  In- 
dustrial Relations  on  these  statistics  is  also  in  point :  "The 
actual  concentration,  however,  has  been  carried  very 
much  further  than  these  figures  indicate.  The  largest 
private  fortune  in  the  United  States,  estimated  at  $1,000,- 
000,000,  is  equivalent  to  the  aggregate  wealth  of  2,500,000 
of  those  who  are  classed  as  *poor,'  who  are  shown  in  the 
studies  cited  to  own  on  the  average  about  $400  each.^^*^ 

That  this  situation  means  a  denial,  to  a  large  majority 
of  men,  of  the  material  goods  needed  for  the  most  worthy 
living  is  an  inescapable  conclusion.  If  it  be  answered 
that  our  total  national  income  is  so  small  that  it  amounts 
per  family  to  an  average  which  would  still  be  relatively 
small,  we  must  reply  that  such  an  argument  "is  uncon- 
vincing as  a  plea  against  diminishing  the  disparity  of 
wealth.    If  the  nation's  total  income  is  small,  all  the  less 


'®W.  I.  King,  "Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the  United 
States,"  pp.  78-85. 
^^Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations,  pp.  28,  29. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  65 

can  the  community  tolerate  inequality  in  its  distribution. 
If  the  nation's  productive  power  is  limited,  all  the  more 
essential  is  it  that  it  should  not  be  diverted  to  the  pro- 
vision of  luxuries,  before  it  has  been  used  to  supply  the 

material  conditions  of  a  good  life  to  the  whole  popu- 
lation."38 

As  a  consequence  of  inherited  inequalities  in  the 
distribution  of  wealth  there  are  gross  disparities  in  in- 
come, although  the  differences  in  income  are,  of  course, 
not  as  staggering  as  the  differences  in  possessions.  Yet 
the  studies  cited  above  show  that  the  richest  fifth  of  the 
families  receive  half  of  the  total  income  and  the  richest 
fiftieth  receive  more  than  one-fifth  of  the  income.^^  It 
has  already  been  pointed  out  that  about  the  time  Pro- 
fessor King's  study  was  made  more  than  half  of  the 
wage  earners  received  less  than  $600  per  year,  a  fact 
which  needs  to  be  seen  in  the  light  of  the  profits  of  in- 
dustry. "According  to  the  figures  of  the  United  States 
Census,"  says  a  well-known  sociologist,  "the  profits  in  the 
manufacturing  industry  in  the  year  1909  were  about 
twelve  per  cent  after  due  allowance  for  interest,  in- 
surance, taxes,  and  all  other  fixed  charges  on  the  total 
capital  employed.  In  other  words,  the  capitalist  class 
received,  in  addition  to  'interest,'  in  manufacturing  in- 
dustry in  1909  about  twelve  per  cent  of  'profits.'  On 
the  other  hand,  only  a  little  over  fifty-one  per  cent  of  the 
total  value  of  the  product  added  to  manufacturing  went 
to  working  men  and  other  employes  in  the  form  of  wages 
or  salaries.  It  will  be  seen-  from  these  figures,  even 
though  they  are  by  no  means  accurate,  that  the  workings 
man  is  still  very  far  from  receiving  a  just  share  of  the 
product  of  his  labor;  and  that,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
comparatively  small  class  of  owners  receive  in  addition 


k 


^"'Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  pp.  65,  66. 
''•W.  I.  King,  "The  Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,"  p.  235. 


66  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  the  interest  on  their  capital  a  considerable  margin  of 
'speculative  profit/  .  .  .  We  may  assume  that  interest, 
wages  of  superintendence  and  the  like  are  a  part  of  'nec- 
essary profits'  without  which  business  cannot  be  carried 
on  upon  a  basis  of  private  ownership  and  initiative,  but 
'speculative  profits'  are  not  'necessary  profits'  and  they 
represent  in  no  sense  a  compensation  for  services 
rendered  to  the  community."^^ 

According  to  figures  given  by  the  head  of  the  United 
States  Steel  Corporation,  the  increase  in  the  average 
wages  of  all  employes  between  1914  and  1919  was  114  per 
cent.^i  On  the  other  hand,  according  to  figures  in  the 
annual  reports  of  the  Steel  Corporation  and  the  income 
statistics  of  the  War  Labor  Board,  the  profits  of  the 
United  States  Steel  Corporation  increased  from  $23,- 
496,768  in  1914  to  $457,685,000  in  1917  (an  increase  of 
more  than  1800  per  cent  over  1914)  and  in  1918  were 
$123,318,362  (an  increase  of  435  per  cent  over  1914). 
Even  making  substantial  allowance  for  any  wrong  im- 
pression which  the  bare  figures  may  produce,  one  cannot 
avoid  the  conclusion  that  in  spite  of  the  relatively  high 
average  of  wages  such  a  situation  rests  upon  a  more  or 
less  unconscious  assumption  that  the  workers  are  re- 
garded more  as  tools  of  production  than  as  copartners  in 
a  common  task.  When  profits  increase  out  of  all  propor- 
tion to  wages,  or  at  the  expense  of  the  general  public, 
an  unbrotherly  use  of  economic  power  is  a  patent  fact. 

This  does  not  mean  that  we  suppose  possessions  or 
income  must  be  equal.  Within  certain  limits  inequality 
need  not  be  a  denial  of  brotherhood.  It  may  well  be 
argued  that  the  most  socially  desirable  distribution  of 
wealth  would  not  be  one  which  secured  exact  equality, 
but   which   would  be    roughly   proportional   to   general 


""C.  A.  Ellwood,  "The  Social  Problem,"  New  York,  1915,  pp. 

157-159- 

"The  great  increase  in  the  cost  of  living  during  the  same  period 
should  be  borne  in  mind. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  67 

ability."  But,  as  Professor  King  points  out  in  the  studies 
quoted  above,  "by  the  term  general  ability  we  cannot 
mean  ability  to  acquire  wealth  under  existing  conditions, 
else  we  beg  the  whole  question.  We  must  refer  only  to 
those  differences  in  skill  which  would  be  manifested  in 
most  branches  of  activity.  It  is  easy  to  find  a  man  in 
almost  any  line  of  employment  who  is  twice  as  efficient 
as  another  employe,  but  it  is  very  rare  to  find  one  who 
is  ten  times  as  efficient.  It  is  common,  however,  to  see 
one  man  possessing  not  ten  times  but  a  thousand  times  the 
wealth  of  his  neighbor.  This  discrepancy  represents 
ability  of  only  one  type — the  faculty  of  taking  advantage 
of  existing  laws  and  circumstances  to  acquire  property 
rights.''"*^  Such  extreme  inequalities,  based  on  something 
else  than  service  to  society,  are  clearly  inconsistent  w4th 
the  ideal  of  brotherhood. 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  found  two  tests  for  judgmg 
the  present  institution  of  property  in  the  light  of 
Christian  principles:  first,  how  far  does  the  present 
distribution  of  property  minister  to  the  individuaFs  full 
development,  and,  second,  how  far  do  present  methods 
of  acquisition  of  property  serve  the  common  good?  The 
latter  question  we  shall  consider  in  the  following  section. 
In  the  light  of  the  discussion  of  this  chapter  the  answer 
to  the  first  question  is  already  clear.  Under  the  present 
distribution  of  wealth  some  have  vastly  more  than  they 
need,  while  the  masses  have  far  less  than  is  essential  for 
a  worthy  life.  This  is  the  evil  in  the  situation — not  that 
there  is  inequality,  but  that  the  inequality  is  such  as  to 
prevent  many  from  attaining  to  full  self-realization.  The 
evil  is  that  one  man  should  have  three  or  four  palaces  that 

"We  do  not  here  mean  to  imply  that  there  are  not  other  im- 
portant standards  which  may  have  a  part  in  determining  the 
proper  distribution  of  wealth.  Ability  to  use  wisely  as  well  as 
ability  to  produce  is  a  valid  criterion.  And  even  if  large  ability 
of  either  kind  is  lacking,  human  need  itself  presents  a  claim 
which  the  Christian  certainly  cannot  ignore. 

"W.  I.  King,  "The  Wealth  and  Income  of  the  People  of  the 
United  States,"  p.  60. 


68  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

he  cannot  begin  to  utilize,  while  millions  have  only  a  hovel 
which  makes  decent  family  life  impossible. 

It  would,  of  course,  be  entirely  erroneous  to  assume 
that  all  poverty  arises  from  inequality  in  distribution.^^ 
Much  is  due  to  what  seem  to  be  purely  individual 
causes — illness,  disability,  drunkenness,  improvidence, 
laziness — although  even  in  many  of  these  cases  the  de- 
ficiency may  be  traced,  in  part  at  least,  to  economic 
sources.  InsufHcient  production  is  also  a  fundamental 
cause  of  poverty.  Unless  the  sum  total  of  wealth  is  at 
the  maximum,  the  share  of  all  is  lower  than  it  ought  to 
be.  In  a  country  of  natural  fertility,  however,  and  in 
a  day  of  scientific  control  over  nature,  we  have  practically 
solved  the  question  of  producing  enough  economic  goods 
to  afford  to  all  the  material  basis  for  a  well-developed 
life.  Our  great  problem  today  is  not  the  amount  of 
wealth  produced,  but  the  proportions  in  which  it  is  dis- 
tributed. Unless  we  can  secure  greater  justice  in  dis- 
tribution we  can  not  even  secure  maximum  production, 
for  a  sense  of  injustice  is  one  of  the  greatest  present 
obstacles  to  full  productive  activity.  And  the  problem 
of  distribution  is  at  heart  an  ethical  question  and  cannot 
be  rightly  solved  without  a  recognition  of  the  principle 
of  human  brotherhood. 

3.  Aspects  of  Our  Industrial  Order  Inconsistent 
WITH  THE  Duty  of  Service 

In  certain  wide  ranges  of  our  social  life  the  necessity 
of  the  motive  of  service  is  recognized.  In  several  of  the 
professions — particularly  the  ministry,  teaching,  and 
medicine — this  is  largely  true.  No  one  assumes  that  the 
chief  concern  of  a  minister  or  a  physician  or  an  educator 
should  be  the  size  of  his  salary.     His  income  is  not  the 

**Robert  Hunter,  in  his  work  on  Poverty,  estimated  that  not 
less  than  10,000,000  persons  in  the  United  States  are  in  a  condi- 
tion of  poverty;  that  is,  unable  to  secure  the  necessities  which 
will  enable  them  to  maintain  even  physical  efficiency.  Actual 
statistics  are  not  available. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  69 

objective  of  his  effort,  but  the  means  by  which  he  is 
enabled  so  to  live  as  to  do  his  best  work.  He  is  required 
to  think  first  not  of  what  he  can  get  out  of  his  profession 
but  of  what  he  can  put  into  it.  Of  those  who  follow  these 
callings  it  is  expected  that  the  motive  of  economic  self- 
interest  is  to  have  a  secondary,  not  the  dominant,  place. 
He  that  is  great  among  them  is  the  servant  of  all.  But 
when  we  pass  into  the  realm  of  business  and  industry  the 
principle  of  service  is  far  less  generally  recognized  as  the 
controlling  motive.  Both  in  a  prevalent  social  attitude 
and  in  the  form  of  social  organization  is  this  found  to  be 
the  case. 

a.  In  Social  Attitude:  Over-Emphasis  on  Motive  of  Self- 
interest. 

Although  in  many  individuals  the  motive  of  service  is 
undoubtedly  supreme,  the  general  assumptions  in  business 
and  industrial  circles  do  not  foster  such  an  attitude.  That 
industry  exists  for  the  sake  of  the  personal  profit  of  those 
who  can  control  it  is  the  widely  accepted  point  of  view. 
A  man  is  supposed  to  be  in  business  for  the  sake  of  what 
he  can  get  out  of  it.  The  size  of  the  financial  returns  is 
the  usual  test  for  judging  the  efficiency  of  an  industry,  not 
the  extent  to  which  it  ministers  either  to  the  welfare  of  all 
those  engaged  in  it  or  to  the  public  need.  The  frank  reply 
of  the  head  of  the  American  Sugar  Refining  Company  to 
the  question  of  the  Industrial  Commission  in  1900,  as  to 
whether  he  considered  it  ethically  justifiable  to  make 
consumers  pay  dividends  on  great  over-capitalization,  is 
altogether  too  typical:  "I  think  it  is  fair  to  get  out 
of  the  consumer  all  you  can,  consistent  with  the  business 
proposition."^^  The  "profiteering"  during  the  war  and 
after  is  only  an  extreme  manifestation  of  this  common 
attitude. 

Employes  in  their  turn  are  inclined  to  think  of  their 

*^Quoted  in  Joseph  Husslein's  "The  World  Problem :  Capital, 
Labor,  and  the  Church,"  New  York,  1918,  p.  45. 


^o  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

part  in  production  only  in  terms  of  the  highest  wages 
that  can  be  exacted.  The  ideal  of  producing  the  maxi- 
mum amount  possible  for  the  sake  of  meeting  human 
needs  does  not  appear  to  hold  a  prominent  place.  Output 
is  limited  through  apathy  or  intent.  To  give  as  little  as 
possible  in  return  for  as  much  as  can  be  gotten  seems 
to  be  a  not  uncommon  aim. 

For  a  physician,  minister,  teacher,  or  social  worker  to 
strike,  practice  sabotage,  or  enter  into  an  arrangement 
to  curtail  service  for  the  sake  of  raising  prices  would  be 
considered  a  public  outrage.  Yet  .it  is  more  or  less 
expected  that  people  in  commercial  pursuits — employers, 
merchants,  and  employes  alike — will  use  such  means.  In 
the  professions  there  is  a  fairly  definite  ethical  code.  In 
manufacture  and  in  trade  no  such  well-defined  standards 
govern  the  character  of  the  service  to  be  rendered,  the 
quality  of  goods  to  be  furnished,  and  the  prices  to  be 
charged.  A  well  known  capitalist,  being  asked  whether 
he  thought  ten  dollars  a  week  was  enough  for  a  long- 
shoreman, is  reported  as  replying  that  he  believed  it  was 
''if  it  was  all  he  could  get.''  And  a  labor  organ,  ironically 
commenting  on  the  reply,  remarked :  "This  really  great 
man  is  of  the  opinion  that  a  wage  worker  is  justified  in 
taking  all  he  can  get,  and  that,  when  he  takes  it,  it 
constitutes  sufficient  wages,  and  we  are  decidedly  of  that 
same  opinion  also."^^  ''AH  he  can  get.''  The  remark 
may  be  regarded  as  roughly  typical  of  a  current  attitude 
on  the  part  of  both  capital  and  labor. 

This  point  of  view,  thus  generally  accepted  as  the  foun- 
dation of  industry,  lies  at  the  heart  of  our  industrial 
conflicts.  So  long  as  industry  is  organized  on  the  basis 
of  each  group  getting  as  much  as  it  can,  disputes  are 
inevitable.  If  we  are  to  end  them  we  must  come  to  a 
recognition  that  industry  is  a  public  service.  In  the  words 
of  a  contemporary  English  economist:   'Tt  is  because  the 

^'^Quoted  in  Joseph  Husslein's  "The  World;  Capital,  Labor, 
and  the  Church,"  pp.  111-112. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  71 

purpose  of  industry,  which  is  the  conquest  of  nature 
for  the  service  of  man,  is  neither  adequately  expressed 
in  its  organization  nor  present  to  the  minds  of  those 
engaged  in  it,  because  it  is  not  regarded  as  a  function  but 
as  an  opportunity  for  personal  gain  or  advancement  or 
display,  that  the  economic  life  of  modern  societies  is  a 
perpetual  state  of  morbid  irritation."^"^ 

The  evil  in  the  existing  conditions  is  not  simply  in 
giving  the  chief  consideration  to  material  self-interest 
but  in  the  general  assumption  that  this  procedure  is  some- 
thing that  is  to  be  taken  as  a  matter  of  course.  We  fail 
to  recognize  it  for  what  it  is — a  denial  of  the  Christian 
view  of  life.  If  we  are  correct  in  saying  that  Chris- 
tianity demands  that  the  controlling  motive  be  love,  then 
business  and  industry  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  service 
for  the  common  good  and  income  and  property  must  be 
regarded  not  as  the  primary  objective  but  as  the  due 
reward  for  worthy  fulfilment  of  a  social  function. 

This  exaggerated  emphasis  on  the  motive  of  self- 
interest  is  chiefly  responsible  both  for  the  dwarfing  of 
personalities  and  the  extreme  inequalities  in  distribution 
of  wealth,  which  we  have  already  considered  as  incon- 
sistent with  the  Christian  view  of  personality  and  of 
brotherhood.  There  are,  however,  certain  further  results 
that  we  need  to  consider  here. 

b.  In  Objective  Results:    An  Unsocial  Use  of  Economic 
Power, 

The  principle  of  service,  applicable  both  to  the  process 
of  acquiring  wealth  and  to  its  use,  demands  that  in  one's 
work  the  well-being  of  mankind  shall  be  served  and  that 
what  is  thus  acquired  shall  be  used  as  a  trust  for  the 
common  good.     To  how  great  an  extent  both  of  these 


*^R.  H.  Tawney,  in  "The  Sickness  of  an  Acquisitive  Society," 
London,  1920,  p.  84.  The  volume  deserves  reading  in  full,  par- 
ticularly because  of  its  insistence  that  self-interest  cannot  afford 
an  adequate  foundation  for  industry. 


^2  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

aspects  of  the  principle  fail  of  present  application  will 
be  evident  from  the  following  discussion. 

(i)  Non-Serving  Groups. 

The  ideal  of  service  requires  that  all  members  of  the 
community  be  useful  members.  Yet  we  find  large  num- 
bers of  individuals  engaged  in  occupations  that  are  not 
socially  desirable.  A  vast  amount  of  human  energy  is 
directed  to  ends  that  are  not  simply  useless  but  positively 
hurtful.  The  liquor  trade  was  an  outstanding  example. 
Commercialized  vice,  organized  gambling  on  the  stock 
exchange,  the  production  of  narcotics  or  drugs  for  de- 
moralizing purposes,  are  some  of  the  flagrant  aspects 
of  our  social  order  that  most  completely  contradict 
the  Christian  teaching.  Any  other  business  that 
seeks  private  profit  at  the  expense  of  social  welfare  by 
deliberately  appealing  to  the  lower  motives  of  mankind 
stands  similarly  condemned. 

There  are  still  other  occupations  which,  though  not 
necessarily  deleterious  in  their  effect  on  character,  never- 
theless turn  productive  energies  from  fruitful  labor  into 
channels  that  do  not  minister  to  the  largest  common  good. 
Such  is  the  manufacture  of  luxuries  and  the  creating  of  a 
market  for  them  through  exploitative  advertising.  An 
American  economist  has  estimated  that  not  more  than 
one  out  of  ten  adults  is  employed  in  producing  necessities 
of  life.**  To  spend  human  energies  or  the  natural  re- 
sources, on  which  the  whole  human  family  depends,  in 
supplying  luxuries  for  the  few  before  we  provide  neces- 
sities for  all  cannot  be  reconciled  with  a  Christian  view  of 
economic  life.  To  define  the  term  ''luxuries"  is  perhaps 
impossible,  since  what  is  only  a  needless  extravagance  for 
one  may  sometimes  be  a  useful  expenditure  for  another, 
but  that  much  is  now  wasted  in  ostentatious  display  or  in 
unsocial  self-indulgence  is  only  too  apparent.     Against 

"Quoted  by  Stephen  Leacock,  "Essays  in  Social  Justice,"  New 
York,  1919,  p.  31. 


I 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  73 

any  frittering  away  of  energies  that  were  meant  to  serve 
mankind  the  principle  of  service  is  a  permanent  protest. 
And  there  are  some,  idle  and  unproductive,  that  do 
not  work  at  all.  Whether  found  among  rich  or  poor, 
they  are  parasites  on  the  community.  Idleness  is  equally 
contradictory  of  the  principle  of  service,  whether  found 
among  those  who  complacently  and  unnecessarily  live  on 
charity  or  among  those  who  live  extravagantly  and 
irresponsibly  on  inherited  or  unearned  wealth.  The 
Apostle's  vigorous  dictum,  "If  any  will  not  work,  neither 
let  him  eat,"  applies  to  both  alike.  There  is  to  be  no 
leisure  class  in  a  Christian  society.  Interest  and  profits 
on  investments  thus  find  justification  only  if  a  corre- 
sponding service  is  rendered  by  the  recipient  of  them. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  seems  clear  that  some  payment  for 
the  use  of  capital  is  a  stimulus  to  thrift  and  that  a  reward 
for  making  public  use  of  private  savings  is  socially  need- 
ful. Those  who  save  and  thereby  provide  the  capital 
needed  for  machine  production  on  the  tremendous  scale 
of  the  present  day  are  certainly  fulfilling  a  necessary 
function.  But  mere  clipping  of  coupons  and  foregoing 
all  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  way  in  which  the  in- 
come is  derived  is  not  a  public  service.  Only  when  the 
capital  has  been  used  in  a  way  that  is  socially  beneficial 
can  we  say  that  the  Christian  principle  has  prevailed. 
Clearly  this  is  not  the  case  when,  through  over-capitaliza- 
tion, power  of  monopoly,  or  other  means,  dividends  are 
increased  at  the  expense  of  fair  prices  to  the  public.  The 
same  failure  is  apparent  when  dividends  are  at  the 
expense  of  those  whose  skill  utilizes  the  tools — when,  for 
example,  dividends  run  anywhere  from  thirty  to  seventy 
per  cent  and  employes  receive  less  than  a  decent  living 
wage.  Yet  by  the  testimony  given  before  the  Federal 
Industrial  Relations  Commission  it  was  shown  that  the 
conditions  and  treatment  of  the  workers  were  generally 
unknown  even  to  the  directors  of  corporations  and  re- 
garded as  none  of  their  concern. 


74  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

No  doubt  it  will  be  replied  that  the  number  of  those 
who  are  not  rendering  useful  service  to  society  is  rela- 
tively small.  Happily  this  is  true.  But  although  the 
great  majority  are  engaged  in  worthy  occupations  it  is 
yet  true  that  in  the  general  conduct  of  industry  the 
organizing  principle  is  not  usually  the  good  of  all  those 
engaged  in  it,  or  the  well-being  of  the  community  as 
a  whole,  but  the  private  advantage  of  those  who,  by  virtue 
of  owning  the  means  of  production,  are  strong  enough  to 
control.  This  use  of  economic  power  for  purposes  of 
domination  instead  of  service  is  so  great  a  present-day 
denial  of  Christian  teaching  that  it  particularly  challenges 
our  further  consideration. 

(2)   Selj&sh  Autocracy  in  Industry. 

That  the  present  concentration  of  control  denies  to 
the  majority  of  workers  the  opportunity  of  directing  their 
own  lives  freely  or  finding  full  self-expression  in  their 
work  is  so  evident  as  to  need  little  argument.  In  a  day 
in  which  democracy  is  regarded  as  the  conscious  goal  in 
political  development  by  practically  all  the  nations  in  the 
world,  autocratic  organization  is  still  a  widely  accepted 
rule  in  industry.  The  idea  that  "it  is  my  industry  and 
that  it  is  nobody  else's  business  how  I  run  it"  is  largely 
unchallenged  in  our  economic  life.  The  plain  fact,  how- 
ever, is  that  no  man  has  a  right  to  think  of  an  industry 
as  simply  his  own  private  concern.  It  is  made  possible 
only  by  the  joint  endeavors  of  all  the  men  who,  with  hand 
or  brain,  work  in  connection  with  it.  Their  lives  as 
well  as  the  employer's  are  all  bound  up  in  it  and  their 
destinies  affected  by  the  way  it  is  carried  on.  Yet,  gen- 
erally speaking,  employes  have  little  or  nothing  to  say  as 
to  the  conditions  under  which  they  are  to  work,  except 
in  so  far  as  they  have  succeeded,  through  effective 
organization,  in  securing  a  voice  in  determining  wages 
and  hours — a  share  of  control  which  is  still  often  con- 
ceded only  after  bitter  struggle.     The  man  whose  bread 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  75 

for  today  depends  on  his  securing  access  to  tools  owned 
and  arbitrarily  controlled  by  another  is  virtually  com- 
pelled to  accept  the  terms  which  the  other  may  name. 
Collective  bargaining  has  tended  to  limit  this  arbitrary 
control  and  in  certain  industries  to  secure  what  ap- 
proaches a  balance  of  power,  but  in  most  industries  has 
not  yet  resulted  in  anything  that  can  really  be  designated 
as  democracy. 

The  failure  of  the  present  autocratic  control  of  indus- 
try to  serve  the  general  good  is  further  shown  by  its 
failure  to  develop  the  capacities  of  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  workers.  The  man  who  has  no  share  in  deciding 
questions  of  common  concern  lacks  the  stimuli  that  elicit 
initiative,  creativity,  and  self -development.  To  have  all 
questions  settled  by  another,  to  have  no  opportunity  for 
understanding  the  processes  of  production,  to  have  no 
responsibility  except  for  the  performance  of  mechanical 
tasks,  means  a  lamentable  lack  of  educative  influence  in 
one's  work.  For  such  a  master-servant  relationship  in 
industry  Jesus'  words  to  His  associates  have  a  significant 
challenge:  ^'Henceforth  I  call  you  not  servants,  for  the 
servant  knoweth  not  what  his  lord  doeth;  but  I  have 
called  you  f  riends."^^ 

Not  only  in  controlling  and  limiting  men's  lives  but 
also  in  the  appropriation  of  the  surplus  profits,  does  the 
autocratic  organization  of  industry  run  counter  to  the 
ideal  of  service.  All  that  remains  after  fixed  charges 
are  met  is  ordinarily  treated  as  the  rightful  due  not  of  all 
those  who  share  in  its  production  but  of  a  single  factor  in 
the  process.  Still  less  is  there  a  general  effort  to  return 
to  the  community  as  a  whole,  from  the  activity  and  needs 
of  which  all  values  are  derived,  the  surplus  remaining 
after  worthy  remuneration  has  been  given  to  capital  and 
labor.  Autocratically  organized  industry  thus  increases 
the  power  of  the  strong  more  than  it  ministers  to  the 
common  good.  It  was  not  a  minister  or  any  theorist, 
*'John  15 :  15. 


76  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

but  one  of  the  most  widely  known  industrial  engineers 
in  America  who  lately  summarized  the  situation  in 
these  words:  "The  great  war  through  which  we  have 
just  passed  has  done  away  with  political  autocracy,  ap- 
parently forever,  but  it  has  done  nothing  whatever  in 
this  country  to  modify  the  autocratic  methods  of  the 
business  system,  which  is  a  law  unto  itself  and  which 
now  accepts  no  definite  social  responsibility.  This  force 
is  controlled  and  operated  in  the  interest  of  ownership, 
with,  in  many  cases,  but  little  consideration  for  the  in- 
terest of  those  upon  whose  labor  it  depends,  or  for  that 
of  the  community."^^ 

We  thus  have  the  condition  of  the  house  divided 
against  itself — democratic  on  the  political  side,  still  auto- 
cratic in  its  economic  life.  Our  conscious  aim,  even  if 
our  somewhat  halting  practice,  is  that  the  government  of 
the  state  shall  serve,  not  dominate,  the  common  will. 
But  industry  is  not  consciously  organized  for  public 
service;  it  is  still  thought  of  as  existing  for  private  profits. 
So  long  as  such  economic  autocracy  prevails,  the  institu- 
tions of  political  democracy  will  be  distrusted.  Men  will 
find  that  in  the  aspects  of  life  which  concern  them  most 
intimately  political  rights  alone  are  of  small  avail.  To 
have  equal  voting  power  in  the  state  does  not  give  the 
worker  any  significant  power  of  self-direction  in  his  daily 
life  or  any  feeling  that  he  is  making  his  proper  contribu- 
tion to  the  life  of  society.  To  make  earnest  with  our 
ideal  of  democracy  we  must  add  to  political  rights  a 
democratic  distribution  of  economic  power,  without 
which  an  equality  of  opportunity  is  practically  impossible. 

4.     The  Protest  of  Christianity  and  the  Protest  of 
THE  Labor  Movement 

These  unchristian  aspects  of  our  present  industrial 
order  have  not  been  here  presented  as  any  fresh  discov- 
ery.    Most  of  them  have  received  recognition  in  all  the 

~H.  L.  Gantt,  "Organizing  for  Work,"  New  York,  1919,  p.  100. 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  jj 

recent  pronouncements  of  Christian  bodies  on  the  subject 
of  industrial  relationships.  In  this  agreement  there  is 
much  encouragement,  for  the  common  recognition  of 
evils  is  the  first  step  necessary  to  their  correction.  We 
have  summarized  them  here  only  in  order  to  set  them 
sharply  over  against  the  Christian  teaching  that  we  have 
discussed  in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  contrast  be- 
tween the  principles,  to  which  as  Christians  we  are  com- 
mitted, and  our  present  attainment  in  the  economic  realm 
is  thereby  seen  to  be  so  great  that  it  will  be  impossible 
longer  to  acquiesce  in  conditions  that  now  exist. 

In  this  dissatisfaction  as  Christians  with  things  as  they 
are  we  find  a  clear  point  of  contact  with  the  labor  move- 
ment. The  working  classes,  too,  are  seeking  changes 
in  our  industrial  life  and  they,  too,  like  the  Churches,  are 
becoming  articulate  in  their  aims.  The  scores  of  pro- 
nouncements by  various  elements  in  the  labor  movement, 
both  the  more  conservative  and  the  more  radical,  reveal  a 
great  current  of  unsatisfied  desires  and  a  demand  for  a 
higher  level  of  living.  And  this  unrest  is  a  hopeful  sign. 
If  men  were  willing  to  endure  conditions  that  prevent  the 
full  development  of  their  personalities,  we  might  well 
despair  of  the  future  of  the  race. 

This  dissatisfaction  of  the  workers  does  not  necessarily 
mean  that  they  are  seeking  changes  from  Christian  mo- 
tives or  with  any  adequate  appreciation  of  the  religious 
significance  which  we  have  found  to  be  involved  in  the 
external  factors  that  enter  into  the  industrial  situation. 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  however,  there  is  unmistakable  evi- 
dence in  the  recent  declarations  of  labor  that  they  are 
reaching  out  after  values  that  are  fundamentally  spiritual. 
Consider,  for  example,  the  notable  reconstruction  pro- 
gram of  the  British  Labor  Party,  entitled  **Labor  and  the 
New  Social  Order."  It  would  build  the  house  of  in- 
dustry on  these  "pillars" :  "The  universal  enforcement  of 
the  national  minimum;  the  democratic  control  of  in- 
dustry ;  the  revolution  in  national  finance ;  and  the  surplus 


78  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

wealth  for  the  common  good."  This  program  only  states 
more  effectively  what  many  other  sections  of  the  labor 
movement  are  seeking.  An  analysis  of  many  pronounce- 
ments reveals  three  chief  objectives  in  them  all:  first,  a 
better  standard  of  living;  second,  greater  justice  in  the 
distribution  of  the  wealth  that  labor  helps  to  create; 
third,  a  democratic  share  in  the  control  of  industry. 

From  this  analysis  it  appears  that  the  working  classes 
want  to  change  the  very  things  in  the  present  system 
in  which  it  most  directly  falls  short  of  the  Christian  ideal. 
They  are  protesting  against  such  a  scale  of  wages  and 
hours  as  precludes  a  high  standard  of  living.  They  are 
denouncing  the  injustices  created  and  perpetuated  by  an 
inequality  in  distribution  of  wealth  so  great  that  demo- 
cratic relationships  are  practically  denied.  They  are  criti- 
cizing such  a  centralization  of  power  in  the  hands  of  the 
few  that  the  workers  are  prevented  from  sharing  in  de- 
termining the  things  that  concern  the  common  good.  The 
evils  which  labor  thus  seeks  to  correct  are  the  very 
aspects  of  our  industrial  order  which  we  have  found  to  be 
most  inconsistent  with  the  Christian  principles  of  the 
sacredness  of  personality,  the  relationship  of  brotherhood, 
and  the  duty  of  service. 

A  few  concrete  illustrations  will  make  more  clear  this 
point  of  contact  between  the  labor  movement  and  Chris- 
tianity. The  Reconstruction  Program  of  the  American 
Federation  of  Labor  declares : 

"The  workers  of  the  nation  demand  a  living  wage  for 
all  wage-earners,  skilled  or  unskilled — a  wage  which  will 
enable  the  worker  and  his  family  to  live  in  health  and 
comfort,  provide  a  competence  for  illness  and  old  age, 
and  afford  to  all  the  opportunity  of  cultivating  the  best 
that  is  within  mankind." 

With  this  compare  the  words  of  the  pronouncement  by 
the  National  Catholic  War  Council : 

"The  laborer^s  right  to  a  decent  livelihood  is  the  first 
moral  charge  upon  industry." 


UNCHRISTIAN  ASPECTS  79 

The  British  Labor  Party  insists  that  the  new  social  order 
must  be  built 

"not  on  the  competitive  struggle  for  the  means  of  bare 
life,  but  on  a  deliberately  planned  cooperation  in  produc- 
tion and  distribution  for  the  benefit  of  all  who  participate 
by  hand  or  by  brain ;  not  on  the  utmost  possible  inequality 
of  riches,  but  on  a  systematic  approach  towards  a  healthy 
equality  of  material  circumstance  for  every  person  born 
into  the  world/' 

And  the  report  of  the  Anglican  Archbishops'  Committee 
of  Inquiry  says,  in  similar  vein : 

"We  would  urge  our  fellow-Christians  to  ask  them- 
selves once  more  whether  an  economic  system  which 
produces  the  striking  and,  as  we  think,  excessive  in- 
equalities of  wealth  which  characterize  our  present 
society  is  one  which  is  compatible  with  the  spirit  of 
Christianity." 

The  platform  of  the  Independent  Labor  Party  launched 
by  the  Chicago  Federation  of  Labor  demands 

"democratic  control  of  industry  and  commerce  for  the 
general  good  .  .  .  and  the  elimination  of  autocratic  dom- 
ination of  the  forces  of  production  and  distribution." 

By  the  side  of  this  statement  read  the  pronouncement  of 
the  Canadian  Methodists,  which  declares  that 

"the  democratic  control  of  industry  is  just  and  inevitable 
.  .  .  The  ethics  of  Jesus  demand  nothing  less  than  the 
transfer  of  the  whole  economic  life  from  the  basis  of 
competition  and  profit  to  one  of  cooperation  and  service." 

The  words  of  the  la];)or  movement  are  in  large  measure 
the  words  of  the  Christian  religion. 

Some  critics  of  the  existing  order,  both  in  Christian 
circles  and  in  the  labor  movement,  while  agreeing  with 
what  has  thus  far  been  said  as  to  different  phases  of  the 
present  industrial  situation,  carry  their  criticisms  further 
still.  They  ask  whether  the  system  itself  is  not  funda- 
mentally and  structurally  wrong.  They  regard  the  pres- 
ent evils  not  simply  as  various  remediable  ailments  in  the 


8o  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

social  body,  but  as  surface  evidences  of  a  deep-rooted 
organic  disease.  Hence  they  insist  upon  a  radical  recon- 
struction of  society.  In  the  following  section  of  our 
study,  therefore,  we  shall  consider  what  should  be  our 
attitude  as  Christians  toward  the  present  industrial 
system  as  a  whole. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE    CHRISTIAN    ATTITUDE    TOWARD    THE 
SYSTEM  AS  A  WHOLE 

When  we  have  considered  both  the  Christian  ideal  and 
our  present  failures  in  attaining  it,  the  question  inevitably 
arises  as  to  the  extent  of  change  that  is  necessary  if  wq 
are  to  realize  the  ideal.  Is  it  capable  of  attainment  in 
the  existing  industrial  order  or  must  we  aim  at  a  thorough 
reconstruction  of  society? 

We  have  found  ourselves  to  be  committed  to  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  worth  of  personality,  the  relationship  of 
brotherhood,  and  the  duty  of  service.  Are  these  prin- 
ciples really  workable  in  our  present  system?  Or  does 
our  acceptance  of  them  commit  us  to  some  radically  dif- 
ferent organization  of  industrial  life?  Are  the  evils 
which  we  have  discovered  to  be  denials  of  these  principles 
maladjustments  in  the  superstructure  of  society,  or  are 
they  due  to  flaws  in  the  very  foundation?  Can  our 
social  ills  be  treated  as  functional  disorders,  or  must  they 
be  regarded  as  symptoms  of  an  organic  disease  that  has 
its  seat  in  the  lifeblood  of  the  body  and  sends  out  its 
poison  into  all  its  members  ?  When  we  speak  of  securing 
a  "more  Christian  industrial  order"  do  we  mean  making 
the  existing  system  operate  to  secure  results  more  con- 
sistent with  our  ideal,  or  do  we  mean  superseding  the 
present  system  by  another? 

Before  we  can  discuss  this  question  intelligently  we 
have  to  inquire  more  definitely  what  we  mean  by  an  "in- 
dustrial order.*'  By  the  term  we  primarily  mean  simply 
a  certain  method  of  living  together  and  of  doing  the 
world's  work.  An  industrial  order  is  men  and  women 
organized  for  work  in  a  definite  way.    This  social  organi- 

8i 


82  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

zation,  whatever  be  its  form,  is  made  up  of  two  diverse 
groups  of  elements.  On  the  one  hand,  there  are  certain 
external  conditions  and  on  the  other  certain  spiritual 
factors.  The  external  conditions  are  of  an  objective, 
physical  sort  and  chief  among  them  are  the  economic 
processes  of  production  and  distribution.  The  spiritual 
factors  are  our  ideals,  our  values,  our  mental  attitudes 
toward  one  another.  Any  industrial  order,  therefore,  is 
not  a  simple  thing,  but  a  complex  of  physical  and  of 
spiritual  elements.  The  type  of  thought  that  explains 
everything  by  a  simple  formula  of  "economic  determin- 
ism,'* holding  that  if  external  conditions  be  corrected 
nothing  further  will  be  necessary,  is  an  artificial  simpli- 
fication of  the  problem  and  overlooks  the  plain  fact  that 
ideals  and  values  control  and  modify  outward  conditions 
as  certainly  as  they  are  modified  by  them.  They  are  not 
derived  solely  from  the  material  environment  but  have  a 
continuous  development  of  their  own.  Without  them  no 
external  conditions  could  make  a  society.  No  less  mis- 
leading an  over-simplification  is  it  to  assume  that  because 
the  spiritual  side  of  life  is  the  preponderant  aspect,  all 
outer  limiting  conditions  of  a  material  sort  can  be 
ignored. 

The  extent  to  which  an  industrial  order  is  a  complex 
of  material  and  spiritual  elements  may  be  made  clear 
by  a  concrete  illustration.  Feudalism,  for  example,  was 
not  simply  a  certain  system  of  land  tenure  with  peculiar 
laws  and  privileges,  but  a  way  of  looking  at  life  as  well. 
Involved  in  it  were  certain  assumptions  as  to  the  rights 
and  duties  of  the  lord  and  his  retainers  to  each  other, 
and  these  assumptions  gave  a  definite  moral  tone  to  men's 
feelings  and  conduct.  The  same  thing  is  true  of  the 
capitalistic  system  of  industry  under  which  we  now  live. 
Capitalism  means,  on  the  one  hand,  large  scale  factory 
production,  ownership  of  the  means  of  production  by  a 
few,  the  wage  system,  and  other  arrangements  of  a  tech- 
nical sort.     But,  on  the  other  hand,  capitalism  means 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        83 

also  a  certain  attitude  toward  life  which  has  a  definite 
moral  and  spiritual  quality.  It  is  an  attitude  which 
tends  to  make  private  profits  the  goal  of  industry,  to 
measure  all  things  by  their  money  values,  to  subordinate 
human  interests  to  property  interests,  to  make  ruthless 
competition  or  equally  ruthless  monopoly  the  way  to  suc- 
cess, and  to  deny  the  right  of  those  who  have  failed  to 
any  part  of  the  rewards  of  the  successful. 

In  discussing  the  Christian  attitude  toward  the  in- 
dustrial order,  therefore,  we  need  to  distinguish  between 
those  factors  which  are  either  morally  good  or  evil  and 
those  which  are  niorally  indifferent.  The  system  by 
which  material  goods  are  produced,  whether  feudalism, 
capitalism,  socialism,  or  some  other,  would  be  irrelevant 
to  Christianity  if  the  effects  upon  the  spirit  of  man  were 
the  same.  The  external  economic  factors  of  our  in- 
dustrial life  are  the  concern  of  this  report,  however, 
whenever  they  are  found  to  have  a  bearing  upon  personal 
values  and  to  be  either  conducive  or  detrimental  to  the 
development  of  Christian  motives  in  social  relationships. 

The  external  factors  that  enter  into  the  constitution  of 
our  industrial  order  are  also  our  concern  only  in  so  far  as 
they  are  within  mankind's  power  to  control.  And  some  of 
them  are  partly  independent  of  conscious  human  effort. 
Modern  capitalism  was  impossible  before  the  discovery 
of  the  power  of  steam  and  the  invention  of  steam-driven 
machinery.  But  when  these  new  powers  had  been  put 
into  men's  hands  the  supplanting  of  the  system  of 
domestic  production  by  factory  production,  with  its 
intense  specialization  of  labor,  became  practically  in- 
evitable. This  large  scale  production  has  naturally  led 
to  the  control  of  industrial  processes  on  a  national  or  an 
international  scale.  To  ignore  this  revolution  brought 
about  by  increased  mastery  over  nature  is  futile.  To 
revert  to  the  economic  conditions  of  a  pre-scientific  age 
is  neither  possible  nor  desirable.  The  kind  of  social 
organization,  however,  by  which  the  newly  gained  ma- 


84  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

chinery  is  to  be  used  is  a  moral  problem  and  quite  within 
human  control.  Our  task  is  to  distinguish  between  the 
moral  and  the  physical  factors.  To  discriminate  in  this 
way  may  not  be  easy,  since  motive  and  environment  act 
and  react  in  countless  ways,  but  so  far  as  possible  it  is 
essential  to  do  so. 

A  further  factor  to  be  taken  into  account  when  con- 
sidering the  Christian  attitude  toward  any  industrial 
order  is  that  there  is  no  such  thing  as  an  unchanging 
system.  The  present  capitalistic  order  is  only  a  hundred 
and  fifty  years  old.  Each  system  grows  out  of  the  past 
and  passes  into  the  future.  Systems  may  shade  off  into 
each  other  so  gradually  that  it  is  impossible  to  say  when 
one  has  ended  and  another  begun.  They  are  not  hard 
and  fast  and  rigid  things.  Socialism,  for  example,  is  not 
the  utter  antithesis  of  capitalism.  There  has  always  been 
a  degree  of  social  control  and  social  ownership  within 
the  present  order,  which  in  its  main  outlines  we  designate 
as  capitalistic,  and  in  a  socialist  state,  unless  of  the  most 
extreme  sort,  there  would  be  some  measure  of  private 
property. 

Again,  what  is  good  at  one  time  may  be  bad  at  an- 
other. This  is  as  true  of  economic  systems  as  of  anything 
else.  They  cannot  be  judged  absolutely,  but  only  in 
relation  to  stages  of  social  development.  Thus  collective 
control  of  the  processes  of  production  and  distribution  is 
not  possible  at  a  period  when  intelligent  collective  living 
has  not  yet  been  attained.  The  developed  capacities  of 
men  eventually  make  practicable  what  was  impracticable 
before.  All  that  we  can  say  of  systems  is  that  one  is 
better  for  a  certain  social  group  or  for  a  given  time  than 
another.  No  doubt  a  society  in  which  no  restraint  or 
government  existed  because  every  man  voluntarily  sought 
the  highest  good,  would  come  nearest  to  realizing  the 
Christian  ideal.  Yet  at  present  to  abolish  government 
would  defeat  the  very  ideal  that  we  seek  to  realize,  for, 
as  has  been  well  observed,  the  trouble  with  such  a  "gentle- 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        85 

men's  agreement"  today  is  first  of  all  that  we  do  not  have 
enough  gentlemen  and,  second,  that  they  do  not  agree. 

In  the  light  of  these  considerations  we  have  to  de- 
termine our  attitude  toward  the  existing  industrial 
system.  That  there  are  aspects  of  it  which  are  seriously 
unchristian  none  can  deny.  But  as  to  whether  they  are 
due  to  the  economic  structure  /itself  or  to  unsocial 
attitudes  which  might  be  equally  prevalent  under  another 
system,  we  find  men  sharply  differing.  Since  any  system 
is,  as  we  have  found,  a  complex  of  diverse  elements,  this 
difference  of  judgment  on  the  system  as  a  whole  is  not 
surprising.  The  distinguishing  features  of  our  present 
order,  and  the  points  at  which  it  is  most  criticized,  are 
private  property,  the  wage  system,  and  competition.  We 
need,  therefore,  to  consider  the  varying  points  of  view 
on  each  of  these  questions.  The  distinctly  economic 
aspects  must  in  each  case  be  left  to  others  better  qualified. 
As  in  the  previous  chapter,  our  approach  will  be  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  bearing  of  these  structural  features 
upon  the  principles  of  the  sacredness  of  personality, 
brotherhood,  and  the  obligation  of  service,  which,  as 
Christians,  we  are  convinced  must  be  controlling. 

I.  Private  Property 

In  the  Christian  conception  of  life  we  have  found 
personality  to  be  the  supreme  thing.  All  social  institu- 
tions are  made  for  man,  not  man  for  institutions.  Prop- 
erty, therefore,  must  be  judged  by  its  effect  on  human 
life.  Its  rights  and  duties  cannot  be  determined  in  an 
absolute  manner  according  to  any  a  priori  theory.  They 
must  be  settled  in  the  light  of  their  bearing  upon  the  men 
and  women  for  whose  sake  the  institution  of  property 
exists. 

It  is  readily  apparent,  we  believe,  that  a  permanent 
personal  control  over  certain  kinds  of  material  things  is 
an  essential  basis  of  the  good  life.  Some  measure  of 
possessions  is  needed  to  make  possible  free,  purposeful, 


86  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  ordered  living.  Property  is,  therefore,  a  great  edu- 
cative force.  It  develops  personality  by  giving  it  mastery 
over  objects  and  assuring  a  degree  of  liberty  and  security 
that  would  be  impossible  if  one  had  no  continuing  posses- 
sion of  material  things.  It  is  thus  a  foundation  of  ad- 
vanced civilization.  So  great  may  be  the  social  value  of 
private  property  that  there  are  few  who  would  today 
advocate  a  thorough-going  communism.  It  continues  to 
exist  not  because  of  any  inalienable  right  but  because  no 
other  system  has  seemed  so  well  to  serve  the  needs  of 
organized  society. 

But  the  validity  of  private  property,  as  of  any  other 
human  institution,  does  not  mean  that  all  limitations 
thereto  are  precluded.  The  very  fact  that  it  is  good  and 
has  a  useful  purpose  to  fulfil  is  the  best  of  reasons  for 
safeguarding  it  from  any  evil  tendencies  that  bring  it  into 
discredit.  The  criticisms  that  we  shall  make  are,  there- 
fore, not  directed  at  private  property  as  such  but  to  the 
serious  abuses  of  it  under  our  present  system. 

When  we  examine  the  institution  of  private  property 
as  it  now  exists  we  find  that  it  includes  so  many  different 
kinds  of  possessions  that  the  word  "property"  is  some- 
times ambiguous,  unless  we  define  the  particular  kind  of 
property  of  which  we  are  speaking.  The  peasant's  plot 
of  land  and  shares  in  an  industrial  corporation  are  both 
property  in  the  legal  sense,  but  in  their  economic  effect 
and  social  justification  they  are  far  apart.  Especially 
important  is  it  to  distinguish  between  property  which 
confers  control  over  things  and  that  which  confers 
control  not  only  over  things  but  also  over  persons. 
Personal  control  over  material  goods  with  which  to  meet 
one's  own  needs  and  the  needs  of  one's  family  is  a  basis 
of  worthy  and  independent  living.  When,  however,  one 
comes  to  possess  material  goods  in  such  measure  that 
others  lack  what  they  need  for  their  own  self-develop- 
ment, he  is  in  the  position  of  being  able  to  dominate  to  a 
large  extent  the  lives  of  others.     Especially  is  this  true 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        87 

when  he  possesses  wealth  in  the  form  of  natural  resources 
or  machines,  to  which,  as  the  means  of  production,  others 
must  have  access  in  order  to  work  at  all.  Those  who  con- 
trol this  productive  wealth  are  able  to  levy  upon  others 
a  toll  for  its  use. 

We  need,  then,  using  Professor  Hobhouse's  suggestive 
terms,  to  distinguish  between  "property  for  use"  and 
"property  for  power.''^  "On  the  one  hand  property  is 
the  material  basis  of  a  permanent,  ordered,  purposeful, 
and  self-directed  activity.  Such  upon  the  whole  is  the 
property  which  a  man  directly  uses  or  enjoys  by  himself 
or  in  association  with  his  nearest  and  dearest.  On  the 
other  hand,  property  is  a  form  of  social  organization 
whereby  the  labor  of  those  who  have  it  not  is  directed  by 
and  for  the  enjoyment  of  those  that  have.  In  this  sense 
the  control  of  the  owner  is  essentially  a  control  of 
labor.  .  .  .  These  two  functions  of  property,  the  control 
of  things,  which  gives  freedom  and  security,  and  the 
control  of  persons  through  things,  which  gives  power  to 
the  owner,  are  very  different."^ 

Against  "property  for  use"  certainly  no  valid  criticism 
can  be  brought.  So  essential  is  it  to  true  freedom  and 
self-development  that  it  is  rightly  regarded  as  a  corner- 
stone of  social  order.  But  when  "property  for  use"  ex- 
pands into  "property  for  powder"  we  have  to  inquire 
whether  the  effect  on  social  welfare  is  still  the  same. 
When  we  do  so  we  can  hardly  escape  the  conclusion 
that  the  private  possession  of  property  in  great  quantity 
has  this  chief  defect — that  by  concentrating  so  much  in 
the  hands  of  a  few  it  denies  to  the  many  sufficient 
property  for  use.  Thus  property  for  power  tends  to 
defeat  the  very  end  for  the  sake  of  which  property  for 
use  exists — the  full  development  of  personalities.  Sta- 
tistics quoted  in  the  preceding  chapter  show  that  two 


^See   "The  Historical   Evolution   of   Property,^'   a   chapter   in 
"Property,  Its  Duties  and  Rights."    London,  1917. 
^"Property,  Its  Duties  and  Rights,"  p.   10. 


88  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

per  cent  of  the  people  of  the  United  States  are  in  pos- 
session of  sixty  per  cent  of  the  wealth,  while  sixty-five 
per  cent  of  the  people  own  but  five  per  cent  of  the 
wealth.  Can  we  escape  the  conclusion  that  the  majority 
of  men  do  not  have  sufficient  for  their  personal  needs 
because  a  few  have  so  much  more  than  they  need  ?  Cer- 
tainly the  wealth  available  has  limits  somewhere,  and 
hence,  after  certain  limits  are  passed,  what  one  group 
gains  another  loses.  The  question  is  one  of  proportions, 
not  simply  of  amounts. 

The  property  which  gives  to  its  possessor  control  over 
others  is  chiefly  the  means  of  production — land,  with 
its  mineral  wealth,  and  the  machinery  by  which  industry 
is  carried  on.  Since  it  is  from  the  land  that  all  our  wealth 
is  derived,  and  since  it  is  on  the  machine  that  we  are 
dependent  for  transforming  the  wealth  of  nature  into 
commodities  for  human  use,  those  who  hold  these  are 
in  a  position  of  economic  power.  If  the  land  and  tools 
that  one  possesses  are  used  for  his  own  home  or  his  own 
tilling  they  are,  of  course,  still  property  for  use.  But 
when  the  amount  possessed  is  so  great  that  others  can 
secure  homes  or  access  to  the  resources  of  nature  and  to 
tools  only  through  dependence  on  him,  it  has  become 
property  for  power.  The  concentration  of  such  wealth 
in  the  hands  of  the  few  and  its  transmission  by  inheri- 
tance mean  that  the  many  find  themselves  dependent 
upon  the  few  who  possess  this  economic  advantage. 
Those  who  are  strong  through  the  power  of  ownership 
can  thus  get  those  who  are  weak  to  work  for  them 
without  paying  full  compensation  for  their  service  to 
society. 

"Five  out  of  six  ...  of  the  children  now  born,"  con- 
cludes Professor  Hobhouse,  "are  born  to  no  assured  place 
in  the  industrial  system.  They  have  of  their  own  no 
means  of  subsistence.  They  have  hands  and  brains,  but 
they  have  neither  land  to  till  nor  stock  to  till  it  with  .... 
Thus  while  modern  economic  conditions  have  virtually 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        89 

abolished  property  for  use — apart  from  furniture,  cloth- 
ing, etc.,  that  is,  property  in  the  means  of  production, 
for  the  great  majority  of  the  people — they  have  brought 
about  the  accumulation  of  vast  masses  of  property  for 
power  in  the  hands  of  a  relatively  narrow  class.  .  .  .  The 
institution  of  property  has,  in  its  modern  form,  reached 
its  zenith  as  a  means  of  giving  to  the  few  power  over  the 
life  of  the  many,  and  its  nadir  as  a  means  of  securing  to 
the  many  the  basis  of  regular  industry,  purposeful  oc- 
cupation, freedom  and  self-support''  because  of  their 
"entire  dependence  on  land  and  capital  which  belong  to 
others."3 

Such  an  industrial  structure  finds  its  almost  inevitable 
expression  in  what  is  called  the  class  struggle,  or  the 
class  war.  It  is  the  effort  of  those  who  possess  nothing 
but  their  labor  to  wrest  from  those  who  own  the  means 
of  production  an  increasingly  larger  share  of  the  pro- 
duct. The  struggle  centers  about  the  difference  between 
the  value  of  the  product  and  the  amount  which  the 
workers  receive.  Those  who  possess  only  their  ability  to 
work  endeavor  to  secure  a  larger  share  of  this  surplus 
value  by  pushing  up  the  cost  of  labor.  On  the  other 
hand,  those  who  are  now  in  the  position  of  economic 
advantage  that  ownership  gives  seek  to  keep  the  cost  of 
labor  down.  The  result  is  the  bitterness  of  class  strife 
within  the  world  of  work,  the  struggle  between  the 
"haves"  and  the  "have-nots."  Almost  constant  suspicion 
between  capital  and  labor  is  the  result  and  open  hostilities 
break  out  again  and  again.  There  is  thus  an  underlying 
antagonism  in  our  social  life,  a  spirit  entirely  contrary  to 
the    Christian   ideal    of   brotherhood. 

This  does  not  mean  that  all  who  possess  great  wealth 
are  unregardful  of  the  supremacy  of  human  values  or 
necessarily  use  their  power  in  an  unbrotherly  way.  It 
seems  clear,  however,  in  the  light  of  this  discussion,  that 


'"Property,  Its  Duties  and  Rights,"  pp.  21-23. 


90  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  existing  tenure  of  property  presents  serious  diffi- 
culties in  the  appHcation  of  Christian  principles.  Ik  the 
first  place,  unrestricted  aggregations  of  wealth  in  private 
hands  mean  that  many  are  denied  enough  for  the  develop- 
ment of  worthy  personality.  In  the  second  place,  the 
concentration  of  the  productive  wealth  in  the  hands  of 
the  relatively  few  gives  them  too  great  power  over  the 
lives  of  others  to  be  conducive  to  a  spirit  of  democratic 
brotherhood. 

Since  the  "property  for  power,"  which  we  have  been 
criticizing,  involves  the  possession  of  the  land  and  tools 
by  which  production  has  to  be  carried  on  and  to  which 
the  workers  secure  access  by  selling  their  labor  to  the 
owners,  we  are  led  on  to  a  discussion  of  the  wage  sys- 
tem, a  second  structural  feature  in  our  present  order. 

2.  The  Wage  System 

The  development  of  modern  capitalism,  with  its  di- 
vision between  ownership  and  labor,  has  made  the  wage 
system  a  conspicuous  part  of  our  industrial  life.  Under 
this  arrangement  the  owner  of  the  means  of  production 
makes  a  money  payment  to  others  in  return  for  the 
expenditure  of  labor  directed  to  certain  specified  ends. 
Our  question  as  Christians  is  whether  there  is  anything 
in  this  relationship  that  creates  special  difficulties  in  the 
application  of  Christian  principles.  We  shall  be  better 
able  to  answer  this  question  if  we  examine  some  of  the 
concrete  criticisms  that  are  brought  against  the  system. 

The  wage  system  is  frequently  criticized  on  the  ground 
of  its  limiting  the  freedom  of  the  workers  to  order  their 
own  lives.  However  true  this  judgment  may  be,  it  can 
be  seen  in  correct  perspective  only  when  it  is  recognized 
that  the  wage  system  was  itself  a  great  advance  in  free- 
dom beyond  the  system  which  it  supplanted.  When  the 
worker  received  a  cash  payment  instead  of  being  sup- 
ported as  a  chattel  slave  or  a  serf,  many  restraints  fell 
away.     He  might  go  elsewhere  to  work  if  he  found  the 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        91 

opportunity.  He  was  at  liberty  to  choose  his  food,  his 
clothing,  his  abode.  His  wages  could  be  used  as  his  own 
choice  directed.  Whole  new  areas  of  freedom  were  thus 
opened  up  to  him  by  the  plan  of  money  payments.  More- 
over, within  certain  limits  the  wage  system  affords 
security  as  well  as  freedom.  The  business  may  fail,  the 
factory  burn,  or  drought  ruin  the  crops,  but  if  the  wage 
earner  can  sell  his  labor  to  some  one  else,  he  does  not 
have  to  share  the  loss  and  can  go  on  untroubled  by  the 
disaster. 

Yet,  though  the  wage  system  was  a  step  toward  free- 
dom in  an  earlier  day,  we  now  see  the  limited  degree 
of  freedom  which  it  often  affords  to  be  inadequate  to  full 
personal  development.  The  average  wage  earner's  power 
of  self -direction  is  small.  The  employer  no  longer  owns 
him,  which  is  an  unquestioned  moral  advance  over  a  sys- 
tem of  chattel  slavery.  But  to  own  the  labor  of  the 
laborer  is  to  be  able  to  control  a  large  part  of  his  life. 
Owning  no  land  or  tools  and  so  being  dependent  on  others 
for  even  the  privilege  of  working,  he  has  very  little  op- 
portunity to  choose  what  work  he  shall  do,  or  to  de- 
termine the  conditions  under  which  that  work  shall  be 
performed.  He  is  free  in  theory,  to  be  sure;  the  law 
binds  him  to  no  one.  But  in  practice  economic  circum- 
stances are  often  as  circumscribing  as  a  law.  He  must 
take  the  job  he  can  get  on  terms  that  the  employer  sets, 
or  else  assume  the  risk  of  unemployment  and  hunger. 
His  freedom  is  further  curtailed  by  his  economic  in- 
security. A  temporary  slump  in  the  market,  a  new 
invention,  a  disagreement  with  a  foreman,  may  throw 
him  out  of  work,  with  no  assurance  that  some  one  else 
will  afford  him  an  opportunity  for  livelihood. 

The  fact  that  the  owner  of  the  means  of  production  is 
in  a  position  of  control  is  the  basis  for  a  second  criticism 
of  the  wage  system — namely,  that  it  does  not  give  the 
worker  a  just  share  in  the  product.  Goods  are  produced 
by  the  joint  contribution  of  capital,  which  furnishes  the 


92  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

tools;  of  labor,  which  transforms  the  raw  material  into 
finished  goods;  of  management,  which  directs  the 
process ;  and  of  the  public,  which  creates  all  social  values 
by  its  needs.  Neither  under  the  wage  system  nor 
any  other  is  there  any  rule  of  thumb  by  which  to  de- 
termine the  relative  value  of  the  contributions  that  labor, 
capital,  management,  and  the  public  respectively  make. 
When  all  are  interdependent  and  each  one  necessary  to 
the  others,  it  is  impossible  to  decide  precisely  how  much 
each  contributes  and  what  is  the  just  share  of  each  in 
the  product.  This  is  no  reason,  however,  for  not  en- 
deavoring to  divide  the  product  according  to  some  ap- 
proximate standard  of  justice.  And  the  wage  system 
of  the  past  has  been  open  to  criticism  on  just  this 
ground — that  it  has  not  really  undertaken  to  do  so, 
but  has  been  organized  on  the  principle  of  paying  to 
labor  only  as  much  as  was  necessary  in  order  to  secure 
an  adequate  supply.  Under  our  wage  system  as  it  has 
been  up  to  the  present  time,  the  payment  made  to  the 
workers  has  not  been  consciously  determined  by  the 
value  created  by  their  expenditure  of  labor.  The  wage 
has  been  a  sum  paid  in  lieu  of  that  value  and  has  been 
competitively  determined  by  supply  and  demand,  like  the 
price  of  material  commodities.  Not  justice  but  economic 
strength  is  the  determining  factor.  Unless  the  workers 
can  so  unite  as  measurably  to  control  the  supply,  the  wage 
may  be  fixed  at  the  level  of  bare  physical  maintenance. 
In  fact,  it  is  a  fairly  current  assumption  that  an  employer 
is  to  pay  for  the  labor  of  his  employes  only  as  much  as 
under  the  pressure  of  economic  necessity  they  can  be 
compelled  to  work  for. 

This  conflict  of  economic  interest  between  the  em- 
ployer, who  seeks  to  buy  labor  as  cheaply  as  he  can,  and 
the  employe,  who  seeks  to  sell  it  as  dearly  as  he  can, 
makes  the  development  of  a  conscious  spirit  of  brother- 
hood exceedingly  difficult.  Unless  the  wage  system  is 
modified  by  other  considerations  than  the  market  price  of 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        93 

labor,  there  is  an  inherent  antagonism  in  the  relationship 
of  wage  payer  and  wage  earner.  Capital  and  labor  are 
indeed  interdependent,  but  their  interests  are  by  no 
means  identical,  despite  frequent  assertions  to  that  effect. 
In  all  other  relationships — religious,  racial,  educational, 
civic — men  may  have  a  community  of  interest,  but  in  the 
industrial  realm,  under  a  system  that  is  built  on  remuner- 
ating labor  according  to  the  supply  of  the  labor  market, 
the  opposition  of  the  economic  interests  of  employer  and 
employe  makes  for  disunity. 

A  third  objection  that  the  Christian  critic  brings  against 
the  wage  system  is  that  it  hinders  the  development  of 
individuality  and  self-expression  in  the  workers.  For 
under  the  wage  system  the  worker  is  separated  from  the 
real  purpose  of  his  work.  He  has  nothing  to  do  with 
securing  the  raw  product,  nothing  to  do  with  directing 
the  processes  of  production,  nothing  to  do  with  disposing 
of  the  product,  little  or  nothing  to  do  even  with  determin- 
ing the  conditions  under  which  he  is  to  work.  All  the 
planning,  all  the  control,  all  the  opportunity  for  bringing 
creative  impulses  into  play,  are  in  other  hands.^  The 
modern  specialization  of  labor  has  made  the  direction  of 
the  whole  process  the  function  of  the  employer  or  his 
representative.  The  worker's  only  connection  with  it  is 
through  a  pay  envelope  on  Saturday  night.  To  go  back 
to  the  old  order  of  domestic  production  which  prevailed 
before  the  development  of  the  factory  system  is  mani- 
festly impossible,  even  if  it  were  desirable.  It  ought  not, 
however,  to  be  impossible  to  find  some  way  of  relating 


'Compare  the  official  Memorandum  of  the  Garton  Foundation 
in  Great  Britain:  "It  ('wage  slavery')  means  something  more 
than  the  mere  economic  dependence  of  the  worker  upon  his 
employment.  It  embodies  the  revolt  of  the  worker  against  a 
system  which  gives  him  neither  interest,  nor  pride,  nor  a  sense 
of  responsibility,  in  his  work.  To  a  large  proportion  of  those 
engaged  in  industry  their  work  has  become  something  external 
to  their  personal  life,  a  disagreeable  necessity,  affording  no 
opportunity  for  self-expression,  no  joy  in  creation,  or  the  realiza- 
tion of  healthy  ambitions." 


94  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  workers  more  directly  to  the  industrial  process  than 
merely  through  a  money  payment  which  involves  the 
surrender  of  all  right  to  participation  in  planning  and 
control. 

The  arrangement  by  which  a  cash  nexus  is  the  only 
connection  between  the  employe  and  the  industry  is  being 
criticized  by  many  today  on  the  ground  of  its  economic 
inefficiency.  It  does  not  provide  sufficient  incentive  to 
cail  forth  the  best  efforts  of  the  workers.  Lord  Lever- 
hulme,  recognized  on  all  sides  as  one  of  the  greatest 
industrial  leaders  in  the  British  Empire,  has  lately  said: 
"It  is  not  only  that  the  wage  system,  by  precluding  from  a 
share  of  the  fruits  of  industry,  is  manifestly  unfair,  but 
it  is  also  apparent  even  to  the  least  thoughtful  that  the 
wage  system  dulls  and  deadens  the  keenness  of  even  the 
best  and  most  conscientious  workers,  and  produces  a  mob 
of  *ca  canny'  shirkers  and  slackers."  The  reason  is  not 
far  to  seek;  it  is  explicitly  expressed  in  Jesus'  parable  of 
the  Good  and  the  Bad  Shepherd.  *The  hireling  fleeth 
because  he  is  an  hireling.''  When  has  the  mere  hireling 
ever  had  sufficient  motive  to  do  anything  else?  It  is  a 
realization  of  this  that  has  led  the  Administrative  Com- 
mittee of  the  National  Catholic  War  Council  to  say :  "The 
full  possibilities  of  increased  production  will  not  be  real- 
ized so  long  as  the  majority  of  the  workers  remain  mere 
wage  earners.  The  majority  must  become  owners,  or  at 
least  in  part,  of  the  instruments  in  production."  This 
statement,  like  Lord  Leverhulme's,  approaches  the  ques- 
tion from  the  economic  side,  but  both  rest  on  a  recogni- 
tion of  the  fact  that  full  production  cannot  be  perma- 
nently secured  by  methods  that  do  not  call  forth  the 
initiative  and  self-expression  of  the  workers.  Thus,  even 
when  we  make  the  economic  approach,  we  are  brought 
back  to  the  Christian  principle  of  the  supreme  importance 
of  personality  and  its  full  development. 

If  this  be  a  fair  analysis  of  the  situation,  we  must  ad- 
mit that  the  wage  system,  in  the  form  that  has  generally 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        95 

prevailed,  offers  serious  obstacles  to  a  full  application 
of  Christian  principles.  To  determine  wages  only  by 
supply  and  demand  is  to  treat  labor  as  a  commodity  rather 
than  as  personality,  as  an  item  in  the  cost  of  production 
rather  than  as  a  partner  in  the  process.  The  wage  earner 
thus  tends  to  become  a  subject  rather  than  a  citizen  in 
the  kingdom  of  industry,  one  whose  interests  are  so 
contrasted  with  the  interests  of  those  in  control  that 
the  spirit  of  brotherhood  is  hindered.  It  must  be  said  in 
fairness,  however,  that  in  practice  the  operation  of  the 
wage  system  is  often  better  than  in  theory.  Many 
employers  bring  Christian  motives  definitely  to  bear  and 
find  their  efforts  met  by  answering  good  will.  That 
the  wage  earner  may  receive  a  reasonable  share  of  the 
product,  may  have  a  reasonable  freedom  in  determining 
his  way  of  life,  and  may  have  a  voice  in  directing  the 
processes  of  industry  has  been  demonstrated  by  experi- 
ments concerning  which  we  shall  speak  in  a  subsequent 
chapter.  What  we  have  been  saying  here  concerns  the 
wage  system  as  in  the  main  it  now  exists,  not  as  it  might 
conceivably  be  modified  by  a  fuller  application  of  Chris- 
tian principles. 

Our  discussion  of  the  wage  system  has  already  raised 
the  question  of  competition,  for  under  existing  arrange- 
ments we  have  found  wages  to  be  determined  chiefly  by 
the  effort  of  the  employer  to  buy,  and  of  the  employes  to 
sell,  labor  as  profitably  as  possible.  Competition,  how- 
ever, is  so  characteristic  of  many  other  aspects  of  our 
'  present  economic  life  that  we  need  to  consider  the  whole 
question  in  greater  detail. 

3.  Competition 

The  chief  point  of  criticism  of  our  existing  economic 
system  on  the  ground  of  its  incompatibility  with  Chris- 
tianity has  been  its  acceptance  of  competition  for  private 
profits  as  its  organizing  principle.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  chief  criticism  of  Christianity  as  impracticable  in 


96  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

economic  affairs  has  been  the  assumption  that  a  thor- 
ough-going application  of  the  principle  of  brotherhood 
would  preclude  any  competition  whatever.  The  whole 
question,  therefore,  of  the  extent  to  which  competition 
may  be  regarded  as  legitimate  in  a  Christian  social  order 
is  one  of  the  most  important  subjects  for  our  consid- 
eration. 

We  have  to  recognize  at  the  outset  that  there  is  honest 
divergence  of  judgment  among  Christians  as  to  whether 
competition  for  material  goods  can  be  regarded  as  con- 
sonant with  Christian  principles.  Those  who  find  in  it 
no  essential  denial  of  Christianity  believe  that  economic 
competition,  based  on  self-interest,  is  an  indirect  method 
of  promoting  the  general  welfare.  They  hold  that  the 
scheme  of  individual  profit-seeking  is  the  best,  if  indeed 
not  the  only,  way  of  securing  the  quantity  of  production 
needed  for  the  common  good.  They  further  point  out 
that  the  competitive  factor  keeps  prices  down  and  quality 
up  and  so  is,  in  the  long  run,  socially  advantageous. 
They  find,  to  use  the  language  of  the  orthodox  political 
economy  of  an  early  day,  that  "man's  self-love  is  God's 
providence." 

Granted  that  unequal  rewards  for  unequal  service  is 
a  correct  principle,  it  is  further  argued  that  there  is 
no  more  satisfactory  way  of  apportioning  rewards  to 
merit  than  that  which  now  prevails.  Some  sort  of  im- 
personal and  automatic  selective  process  is  clearly  pre- 
ferable to  any  method  of  official  apportionment,  and 
competitive  organization  of  industry  is  regarded  as  the 
process  by  which  individual  energy,  initiative,  and  enter- 
prise naturally  come  into  their  own  and  unconsciously 
minister  to  the  good  of  the  community.  The  social  bene- 
fits of  the  end  thus  achieved  are  thought  of  as  ennobling 
and  justifying  the  psychological  motive  of  self-interest 
which  was  the  immediate  stimulus.  The  fact  that  com- 
petition "is  the  life  of  trade"  and  that  efficient  trade  is 
essential  to  human  welfare  is  held  to  sanctify  the  process 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        97 

and  to  take  away  the  sting  of  what  would  otherwise 
be  brutal  selfishness.  Those  who  make  such  an  analysis 
of  the  problem  conclude  that  the  way  out  of  the  evils 
of  competition  is  to  be  found  not  in  substituting  some 
other  motive  for  self-interest  and  some  other  method 
for  the  competitive,  but  in  establishing  a  generally  recog- 
nized distinction  between  fair  and  unfair  competition  and 
in  seeing  that  the  "rules  of  the  game"  are  more  carefully 
observed. 

Over  against  this  acceptance  of  competition  for  private 
profits  is  the  view  of  those  who  regard  it  as  entirely 
inconsistent  with  Christianity  and  with  social  welfare. 
They  insist  that  in  an  industrial  system  based  on  economic 
competition  the  largest  returns  tend  to  go  not  to  the  man 
who  consciously  seeks  to  render  the  largest  social  service 
but  to  the  man  who  is  most  self-seeking,  or  even  to  the 
man  who  is  deliberately  unscrupulous  and  does  not  hesi- 
tate to  adulterate  goods,  to  resort  to  deceitful  advertising, 
or  to  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  essentials  of  life  and  to 
use  it  in  a  ruthless  manner.  Although  they  readily  admit 
that  in  some  cases  great  financial  success  means  that  so- 
ciety has  been  served,  through  some  invention  or  through 
exceptionally  efficient  production,  they  see  all  too  clearly 
that  this  is  often  flagrantly  untrue.  Great  wealth  fre- 
quently means  only  that  the  man  who  inherited,  or  was 
strong  enough  to  secure,  a  position  of  advantage  has  used 
his  power  in  an  extremely  selfish  way.  In  either  case  the 
"successful"  man,  proud  of  what  he  has  achieved,  only 
with  difficulty  escapes  the  curse  of  complacent  satisfac- 
tion with  the  social  arrangements  that  have  made  it 
possible  for  him  thus  to  "get  on,"  and  of  a  depreciatory 
attitude  toward  those  who  have  been  less  fortunate  in  the 
struggle.  Competition  thus  seems  to  invite  the  essential 
moral  crime  of  callousness,  the  habit  of  regarding  man- 
kind, outside  one's  immediate  circle,  as  means  to  one's 
own  ends.  Those  who  fix  their  attention  upon  these 
effects  of  competition  are  convinced  that  it  is  inherently 


98  INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

incompatible  with  the  Christian  principles  of  brotherhood 
and  service,  that  it  puts  power  in  the  place  of  right 
as  the  final  arbiter,  and  that  it  stimulates  self-seeking 
instead  of  love. 

To  these  observers  of  our  social  life  the  principle  of 
competition  appears  to  be  nothing  more  than  a  partly 
conventionalized  embodiment  of  primeval  selfishness.  It 
means  to  them  a  sanction  for  getting  as  much  as  one  can 
and  giving  as  little  as  possible  in  return,  using  any  avail- 
able methods  for  getting  the  best  place  in  the  sun,  and 
wasting  no  sentimental  pity  on  those  who  are  outdistanced 
in  the  race.  All  this  seems  in  flat  contradiction  to  the  at- 
titude which  seeks  first  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  regards 
business  and  industry  as  a  ministry  to  the  common  good. 
They  feel  that  so  long  as  the  present  economic  arrange- 
ments prevail,  the  obstacles  to  the  Christian  way  of  life 
are  so  tremendous  that  we  shall  have  an  inevitable  sense 
of  make-believe  in  our  profession  of  Christianity.  They 
insist,  therefore,  that  competition  is  so  intrinsically  bad 
that  we  must  eliminate  it  entirely  and  try  a  very  differ- 
ent plan. 

Now  there  is  undoubtedly  an  honest  difference  of 
judgment  here.  Is  it  not  possible,  however,  that  some 
of  the  sharpness  of  the  divergence  is  due  to  different 
conceptions  as  to  what  is  implied  in  the  term  "com- 
petition," or  to  over-emphasis  on  a  sitijgle  aspect  of 
the  process?  Before  we  can  discuss  the  evils  or  the 
merits  of  competition  to  the  best  advantage,  we  need  to 
inquire  whether  we  are  speaking  of  precisely  the  same 
thing.  And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  we  find  that  those  who 
regard  competition  as  definitely  inconsistent  with  Chris- 
tianity have  their  attention  fixed  on  a  different  phase  of 
it  than  those  who  find  no  necessary  inconsistency.  The 
former  are  judging  competition  as  a  useful  method  for 
sorting  out  the  men  who  can  perform  a  given  task  in  the 
most  efficient  way  and  seeing  that  they  receive  appropriate 
reward  for  their  superior  service.    The  latter  are  judging 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM        99 

it  in  the  light  of  the  motive  of  self-seeking  that  is  usually 
associated  with  the  competitive  process.  It  is  important 
to  point  out  that  each  of  these  two  sides  maintains  an 
essential  element  of  truth. 

In  any  form  of  organized  society  there  would  always 
be  some  sort  of  rivalry,  at  least  of  an  involuntary  sort, 
unless  it  were  based  on  the  principle  that  all  should 
receive  exactly  the  same  reward  regardless  of  the  value 
of  their  service.  As  long  as  everyone  receives  remunera- 
tion, and  the  remunerations  are  not  all  equal,  there  will 
necessarily  be  a  sifting-out  process  to  secure  those  who 
can  render  the  best  service.  Even  if  profits  in  an  in- 
dustry were  eliminated  and  all  who  were  in  any  way 
engaged  in  it  worked  on  a  salary  plan,  and  even  if  the 
highest  income  attainable  were  $10,000  and  the  lowest 
$5,000,  there  would  still  be  needed  some  kind  of  emula- 
tion to  determine  who  should  hold  the  more  highly  paid 
positions.  To  discover  and  sort  out  the  men  who  have 
the  largest  ability  is  necessary  for  the  sake  of  the  com- 
munity itself,  in  order  that  it  may  have  the  benefit  of  their 
talents.  Any  successful  society  must  secure  the  abler 
individuals  for  the  difficult  posts,  with  the  result  that  the 
less  able  must  fill  less  coveted  positions.  If,  then,  one 
were  convinced  of  the  justice  of  the  methods  employed 
in  determining  worth,  the  desire  to  have  a  better  status 
than  the  lowest  would  be  inseparable  from  the  desire  to 
be  worthy  of  a  better  status  than  the  lowest — which 
would  be  entirely  commendable.  If  this  be  what  we 
mean  by  competition  then  it  would  not  be  self-seeking  in 
any  unworthy  sense ;  it  would  simply  be  the  effort  of  the 
individual  to  find  his  proper  place  and  function  in  a 
diversified  sodal  order — an  effort  to  reach  the  highest 
potential  possible  in  the  struggle  of  mankind  for  mastery 
over  nature. 

But  it  is  clear  that  competition  as  we  now  find  it  does 
not  actually  so  operate  as  to  distribute  wealth  according 
to  service  rendered.     Our  discussion  of  the  distribution 


lOO        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  wealth,  in  the  preceding  chapter,  makes  inevitable  the 
conclusion  that  the  apportionment  of  rewards  effected  by 
the  competitive  process  is  neither  just  nor  conducive 
to  social  welfare.  At  the  very  least,  then,  the  rules  which 
now  govern  competition  are  in  need  of  radical  revision. 
The  lack  of  any  adequate  code  of  ethics  under  which 
competition  is  to  be  carried  on  is  only  too  obvious. 
Lying  to  consumers,  excluding  great  masses  of  possible 
competitors  by  denying  them  the  opportunity  of  educa- 
tion through  keeping  down  their  vitality  and  depriving 
them  of  leisure,  taking  advantage  of  the  control  of  credit, 
manipulating  properties  in  the  dark  of  interlocking  direc- 
torates, riding  on  unearned  tides  of  rising  social  values, 
profiteering  at  the  nation's  expense  in  a  crisis — all  these 
are  aspects  of  economic  competition  today,  and  clearly 
show  how  unchristian  our  present  standards  are,  even 
though  they  do  not  necessarily  mean  that  all  competition 
is  evil.  In  any  event  there  is  not  the  slightest  excuse  for 
turning  competitors  loose  with  the  general  absolution, 
**Go  to  it,  all  you  do  in  the  name  of  competition  is  holy." 
The  fact  that  we  have  tended  to  do  so  in  the  past  has 
brought  it  about  that  there  is  no  spot  in  our  social  fabric 
more  full  of  rottenness  and  dead  men's  bones  than  the 
realm  of  unrestricted  competition  in  our  commercial  and 
industrial  life. 

In  some  of  the  professions  an  organized  code  of  ethics 
already  prevails.  In  the  field  of  medicine,  for  example, 
well  recognized  standards  of  professional  practice  obtain. 
There  is  competition  here,  but  of  a  different  kind  than 
the  unregulated  business  competition  of  which  we  have 
been  speaking.  Success  is  in  the  main  inseparable  from 
service  and  certain  kinds  of  competition  are  ruled  out 
altogether.  Self-advertising  and  playing  on  the  credulity 
of  clients  are  under  the  ban  of  the  profession.  We  need 
in  business  a  category  corresponding  to  that  of  the 
"quack"  or  the  "scab" — the  unfair  competitors  in  the 
realm  of  medicine  and  of  labor.    When  this  is  the  case. 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THfe  ;SYSTEM   '   loi 

the  ethics  of  business  will  present  at  least  a  less  flagrant 
contrast  to  Christian  ethics  than  we  see  today .^ 

But  the  question  still  remains  whether  more  definite 
standards  as  to  what  is  legitimate  in  competition  and 
what  is  not  are  all  that  is  necessary.  That  free  com- 
petition, properly  conducted,  as  its  classic  exponents 
ideally  conceived  it,  would  tend  to  give  society  the  bene- 
fits of  low  prices  and  high  quality  and  to  distribute  wealth 
according  to  services  rendered  may  be  admitted.  But  as 
a  matter  of  fact  that  kind  of  competition  is  now  practi- 
cally gone,  so  far  as  most  of  our  basic  industries  are  con- 
cerned. Instead  of  individuals  with  equal  opportunities 
and  free  access  to  the  land  and  its  products,  we  find  great 
monopolies  in  almost  complete  control.  In  the  develop- 
ment of  industry  the  process  of  competition  has  defeated 
itself  by  ending  in  monopoly.  Adam  Smith's  faith  in  it 
rested  on  the  assumption  that  both  workers  and  em- 
ployers would  continue  to  act  independently  as  indi- 
viduals. Whatever  may  have  been  the  advantages  of 
such  an  arrangement,  it  is  plain  today  that  the  develop- 
ment of  combinations  of  employers,  of  employes,  and  of 

^There  is  considerable  evidence  that  an  increasing  number  of 
men  in  business  are  imposing  restraints  upon  themselves  as  to 
the  means  which  they  will  use  to  gain  advantage  over  rivals,  so 
that  they  can  say  with  a  clear  conscience  that  at  least  they  do  not 
serve  themselves  at  the  expense  of  the  public.  The  advance  that 
has  been  made  in  recent  years  in  establishing  at  least  some  sort 
of  ethics  of  competition  is  well  illustrated  by  certain  typical 
pronouncements  from  the  Queen's  Bench  as  late  as  1899,  quoted 
by  Julius  H.  Cohen  in  "An  American  Labor  Policy,"  such  as  the 
following : 

"To  say  that  a  man  is  to  trade  freely,  but  that  he  is  to  stop 
at  any  act  which  is  calculated  to  harm  other  tradesmen,  and 
which  is  designed  to  attract  business  to  his  own  shop,  would  be 
a  strange  and  impossible  counsel  of  perfection.  To  attempt  to 
limit  English  competition  in  this  way  would  probably  be  as  hope- 
less and  impossible  as  the  experiment  of  King  Canute."  (Lord 
Justice  Bowen.) 

The  "strange  and  impossible  counsel  of  perfection"  that  a  man 
should  stop  at  some  acts  calculated  to  harm  his  rival  is  probably 
now  the  rule  rather  than  the  exception.  The  limit  is  of  course 
highly  elastic,  but  the  fact  that  most  men  now  have  some  limit 
is  a  hopeful  indication  that  an  adequate  ethical  code  may  be 
established. 


I02    '    "INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

mercKahts  lekve'S'  rfiig'  ideal  a  thing  of  the  past.  AVhat 
we  have  in  our  basic  industries  today  is,  in  the  main,  not 
a  competition  between  individuals  performing  the  same 
tasks,  but  between  classes — which  is  obviously  unservice- 
able and  disastrous.  Within  an  economic  group  whose 
members  perform  the  same  function — for  example,  be- 
tween two  manufacturers  of  the  same  commodity — 
competition  may  be  a  rivalry  as  to  which  can  do  the 
work  most  efficiently,  and  so  be,  in  effect,  a  rivalry  in 
serving  the  public  good.  But  competition  between  two 
economic  classes,  performing  different  functions,  both 
of  which  are  essential  to  the  general  welfare — such  as  the 
competition  between  producer  and  distributor,  or  dis- 
tributor and  consumer,  or  capital  and  labor — is  of  a 
different  character.  Capital  and  labor  are  not  striving, 
even  indirectly,  to  see  which  can  perform  the  same 
process  more  efficiently.  Their  competition  with  each 
other  is  simply  a  struggle  to  see  which  party  can  get  the 
most  from  the  other,  a  process  which  results  in  detriment 
to  the  character  of  each  and  stands  in  the  way  of  the 
general  welfare.  A  premium  is  placed  on  an  anti-social 
attitude.  It  is  a  contest  not  in  giving  the  best  values  but 
in  cupidity.  It  is  a  competition  in  disservice,  not  in 
service,  for  it  divides  the  house  of  industry  against  itself 
and  so  means  public  loss.  This  kind  of  competition 
clearly  has  no  place  in  a  Christian  social  order. 

More,  then,  is  required  than  a  change  in  the  rules  of 
the  game.  A  spirit  of  cooperation  and  a  motive  of  serv- 
ing the  general  welfare  are  the  indispensable  need.  The 
trouble  with  economic  competition,  and  the  element  in  it 
that  makes  it  unchristian,  is  the  supremacy  of  the  motive 
of  self-interest.  The  principles  to  which  we  have  found 
the  Christian  to  be  committed  demand  that  his  primary 
concern  shall  be  for  the  common  good.  The  evil  in 
competition  is  not  the  matching  of  one's  abilities  against 
another's,  nor  unequal  rewards,  but  the  underlying 
motive  of  material  profit  and  the  setting  of  individual 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM       103 

rather  than  social  standards  of  success.  In  the  light  of 
Christianity  the  goal  of  industry  is  not  the  personal  profit 
of  those  who  engage  in  it,  but  the  public  service  of  pro- 
viding for  mankind  the  material  basis  of  a  worthy  life. 
It  is  clear,  therefore,  that  so  far  as  the  seeking  of  private 
profits  is  the  primary  motive  in  economic  competition,  it 
must  be  regarded  as  inconsistent  with  Christianity.  In 
the  economic  realm  as  well  as  elsewhere  we  must  abandon 
selfishness  as  the  chief  principle  of  action  if  we  are 
to  be  true  to  Jesus'  emphasis  upon  seeking  first  the  King- 
dom of  God.  The  seeking  of  the  largest  expression  of 
one's  ability  we  want  to  stimulate,  but  we  want  also  to 
direct  it  to  the  Christian  end  of  serving  the  common  good. 
If  Christian  principles  are  fully  to  prevail,  competition  as 
a  struggle  of  man  against  man  to  secure  the  largest  share 
of  the  world's  wealth  will  therefore  be  abandoned.  The 
effort  to  excel  in  useful  work  will  remain.  The  ability  of 
the  strong  will  then  be  not  a  divisive  but  a  unifying  force. 
One  will  still  be  first  and  another  second,  but  the  gain  of 
one  will  be  the  gain  of  all. 

Our  discussion  has  led  us  to  conclude  that  the  struc- 
tural features  of  the  present  system — private  property, 
wage  payments,  and  competition — as  found  today  are 
clearly  characterized  by  definitely  unchristian  tendencies. 
Permanent  control  over  a  certain  amount  of  material 
things  is  needed  for  the  development  of  personality;  but 
under  our  present  tenure  of  property  some  have  so 
much  that  many  are  denied  sufficient  for  this  educative 
influence.  Emulation  with  one's  fellows  in  order  to  find 
the  largest  outlet  for  one's  creative  powers  is  necessary  to 
the  fullest  self-expression;  but  in  competition  today  the 
motive  appealed  to  is  self-interest  instead  of  serving  the 
common  good.  For  one  man  to  work  for  another  might 
be  a  relationship  as  Christian  as  if  both  were  independent 
producers,  but  a  wage  system  whereby  the  worker  re- 
ceives a  payment  not  determined  by  reference  to  what  he 


I04         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

has  contributed  to  the  joint  product,  but  solely  by  the  com- 
petition in  the  "labor  market,"  cannot  be  regarded  as 
consistent  with  the  Christian  conception  of  the  worth  of 
personality  and  of  brotherhood. 

4.    The    Wrong    Motive    on    Which    the    System 
Depends 

This  analysis  of  unchristian  tendencies  in  our  indus- 
trial system,  makes  it  clear  that  what  is  fundamentally 
wrong  is  the  present  emphasis  on  self-interest.  It 
is  not  simply  that  men  do  not  act  from  Christian 
motives,  but  that  the  existing  organization  of  in- 
dustry does  not  sufficiently  appeal  to  them.  It  is 
obvious  that  as  incentives  to  production  we  have  appealed 
to  some  form  of  the  desire  for  private  gain.  In  the  case 
of  those  who  control  industry  we  have  depended  on  the 
ambition  to  amass  large  wealth.  Private  profit  has  been 
assumed  as  the  goal  of  industrial  activity.  In  the  case 
of  the  great  mass  of  workers  we  have  relied  on  the  fear 
of  hunger  or  unemployment  to  spur  them  on.  But  greed 
and  fear  never  were  Christian  motives.  And  the  as- 
sumption that  one  is  to  get  and  hold  all  he  legally  can 
inevitably  makes  for  disunity  in  our  social  life.  Just  to 
the  extent  that  self-interest  is  controlling  in  the  economic 
realm  will  a  cohesive  and  brotherly  society  be  impossible. 
The  World  War  was  a  sufficient  illustration  of  the  moral 
bankruptcy  of  an  international  order  founded  on  selfish- 
ness. An  industrial  order  founded  on  that  basis  cannot 
fare  any  better. 

Why  is  there  the  present  struggle  in  the  world  of 
industry?  Were  it  due  only  to  agitators,  the  solution 
ought  not  to  be  difficult.  But  the  trouble  lies  deeper. 
For  the  pursuit  of  private  profits,  which  is  the  basis  of 
our  present  system,  results  in  a  propertied  and  a  prop- 
ertyless  class,  whose  economic  interests  are  largely 
opposed.  Those  who  possess  the  natural  resources,  on 
which  all  men  depend,  and  who  can  control  them  for  their 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM       105 

private  gain,  try  to  get  other  men  to  work  for  them  for 
as  little  as  possible.  Owners  and  workers,  therefore,  con- 
tend with  each  other  for  the  surplus  margin  that  will  go 
into  wages  or  into  profits.  The  resulting  mutual  an- 
tagonism which  we  deprecate  as  a  denial  of  Christianity 
cannot  be  adequately  understood  apart  from  this  cleavage 
of  interests,  under  our  practically  unregulated  pursuit  of 
private  gain,  between  those  who  are  now  the  possessors 
of  productive  wealth  and  the  dispossessed.  This  does 
not  mean  that  if  the  cleavage  inherent  in  our  economic 
organization  were  eliminated  the  class  struggle  would 
quickly  disappear — only  that  certain  obstacles  would  be 
removed.  It  means,  in  a  word,  that  the  present  concen- 
tration of  ownership  and  control  creates  a  great  tempta- 
tion to  use  that  power  in  a  selfish  way,  and  that  the 
opposition  of  economic  interests  between  those  who 
possess  the  materials  of  production  and  those  who  do  not 
tends  to  foster  the  unchristian  spirit  of  self-seeking  on 
the  part  of  all. 

We  cannot  better  summarize  the  point  of  view  to 
which  we  have  been  led  in  this  chapter  than  in  the 
words  of  the  report  of  the  Archbishops'  Committee  on 
Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems.  We  agree  with 
this  conclusion: 

"When  every  allowance  has  been  made  both  for  the 
good  qualities  elicited  by  the  industrial  system  and  for 
the  incidental  defects  which  are  likely  to  be  found  in 
any  system  whatever,  we,  nevertheless,  find  it  impossible 
to  resist  the  conclusion  that,  in  certain  fundamental 
respects,  that  system  itself  is  gravely  defective.  It  is 
defective  not  merely  in  the  sense  that  industrial  relations 
are  embittered  by  faults  of  temper  and  lack  of  generosity 
on  the  part  of  the  employer,  of  the  employed,  and  of  the 
general  public  alike,  but  because  the  system  itself  makes 
it  exceedingly  difficult  to  carry  into  practice  the  prin- 
ciples of  Christianity.  Its  faults  are  not  the  accidental 
or  occasional  maladjustments  of  a  social  order,  the  gen- 
eral spirit  and  tendency  of  which  can  be  accepted  as 
satisfactory  by  Christians.    They  are  the  expressions  of 


io6         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

certain  deficiencies  deeply  rooted  in  the  nature  of  that 
order  itself.  They  appear  in  one  form  or  another  not  in 
this  place  or  in  that,  |)ut  in  every  country  which  has  been 
touched  by  the  spirit,  and  has  adopted  the  institutions,  of 
modern  industrialism.  To  remove  them  it  is  necessary 
to  be  prepared  for  such  changes  as  will  remove  the  deeper 
causes  of  which  they  are  the  result. 

"We  cannot,  therefore,  agree  with  the  view  sometimes 
expressed  which  would  allow  Christians  to  take  for 
granted  the  general  economic  arrangements  of  society, 
and  would  confine  their  attention  to  supplementing  in- 
cidental shortcomings  and  relieving  individual  distress, 
in  the  belief  that  if  men  will  live  conscientiously  within 
the  limits  of  established  industrial  arrangements,  without 
seeking  to  modify  them,  the  result  will  be  such  a  society 
as  can  be  approved  by  Christians.  The  solution  of  the 
industrial  problem  involves,  in  short,  not  merely  the 
improvement  of  individuals,  but  a  fundamental  change  in 
the  spirit  of  the  industrial  system  itself."^ 

The  need  for  change  in  the  present  system  of  capital- 
istic industry  does  not  mean,  of  course,  that  everything 
in  this  system  must  be  abolished.  For  there  are  many 
good  points  in  the  present  order — points  to  which  we 
have  here  referred  only  in  an  incidental  way  because  it 
was  our  special  purpose  to  inquire  how  far  we  are  failing 
to  realize  the  Christian  ideal.  To  conserve  the  good  in 
our  present  system  is  no  less  important  than  to  eliminate 
its  evils.  Whether  the  sum  total  of  Christian  values 
could  be  more  fully  secured  in  some  other  system  than 
the  present  one  if  modified  by  an  increasing  extension 
of  social  control  along  the  lines  to  be  suggested  later,  we 
cannot  say.  For,  as  we  pointed  out  earlier  in  this 
chapter,  systems  are  not,  in  practice,  such  unmodified  and 
unmodifiable  things  that  one  can  be  set  sharply  over 
against  another.  Only  in  theory  is  one  the  antithesis  of 
the  other.  What  we  need,  then,  is  not  a  formal  labeling 
of  our  present  system,  as  a  whole,  as  either  Christian  or 
unchristian,   but   a   clear   insight   into   the   aspects   and 

""Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  pp.  51,  52. 


ATTITUDE  TOWARD  THE  SYSTEM       107 

tendencies  of  that  system  which  now  hinder  the  Christian 
spirit.  That  there  are  such  tendencies  and  that  the  root 
of  them  is  in  the  over-emphasis  on  private  profits  and  the 
motive  of  self-interest  is  unmistakable. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE    CHRISTIAN    METHOD    OF    SOCIAL 
BETTERMENT 

In  our  present  industrial  order  we  have  found  much 
in  which,  as  Christians,  we  cannot  acquiesce.  Our  vision 
of  the  social  order  that  ought  to  be  will  not  allow  us  to 
be  content  with  our  social  order  as  it  is.  Impelled  by 
Christian  motives,  we  seek  to  change  existing  conditions 
wherever  they  are  incompatible  with  the  Christian  ideal. 

But  to  have  high  ideals  and  right  motives  is  not  enough. 
They  must  be  translated  into  some  effective  form  of 
social  action.  For  we  are  not  living  in  a  world  in  which 
ideals  and  motives  are  self-fulfilling,  but  in  a  wOrld  of 
imperfection  and  struggle  and  compromise.  We  know 
only  in  part,  and,  even  when  we  know,  our  wills  are  weak 
and  faltering.  It  is  on  such  a  society  that  we  have  to 
bring  the  Christian  ideal  to  bear,  in  such  a  society  that 
the  Christian  motive  has  to  be  applied.  Of  any  proposal 
for  social  betterment,  therefore,  we  have  to  ask  not  only 
whether  it  is  in  harmony  with  the  goal  that  Christianity 
seeks,  but  also  whether  it  will  in  practice  actually  lead 
us  to  the  desired  end.  Unless  we  choose  wise  methods 
as  well  as  a  worthy  goal,  the  methods  themselves  may 
obstruct,  or  even  defeat,  our  aims. 

Now  Christianity  is  committed  not  only  to  a  definite 
social  ideal  but  also  to  a  certain  way  of  realizing  it. 
Since  the  society  for  which  Christians  look  is  one 
whose  members  are  bound  together  by  the  law  of  love, 
the  development  of  the  motive  of  love  is  the  way  by 
which  a  Christian  social  order  is  to  be  brought  about. 
Since  a  Christian  society  has,  as  a  distinguishing  charac- 
teristic, faith  in  a  divine  purpose  for  humanity,  the  at- 

io8 


I 


r 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  109 

tainment  of  that  purpose  is  conditioned  by  an  increasing 
development  of  the  attitude  of  faith.  Love  and  faith — 
these  are  the  great  principles  that  determine  the  Christian 
method  of  realizing  social  progress. 

But  the  actual  w^orld  in  v^hich  we  live  seems,  at  best, 
only  partially  made  for  these  principles.  Only  within 
narrow  limits  does  love  now  appear  to  be  practicable.  In 
international  and  industrial  relationships  how  little  has 
mankind  trodden  the  path  of  love !  So  faith  also  seems 
possible  only  in  a  circumscribed  degree.  How  little  does 
humanity,  as  it  is,  reveal  the  divine  capacities  that  Chris- 
tianity asserts!  The  principles  of  love  and  faith  seem 
inadequate  to  secure  the  achievement  of  our  goal.  And 
so  indeed  they  are,  if  by  that  we  mean  that  the  ideal  is  to 
be  realized  all  at  once.  We  are  led,  therefore,  to  a  third 
principle  that  serves  to  complete  our  definition  of  the 
Christian  method — the  principle  of  growth.  This,  then, 
is  the  Christian  way  of  securing  social  betterment — ^by 
developing  the  motive  of  love,  by  promoting  the  attitude 
of  faith,  by  carrying  on  a  process  of  education.  Of 
what  is  involved  in  each  of  these  we  need  now  to  speak 
more  in  detail. 

I.  By  Developing  the  Motive  of  Love 

According  to  Christianity  the  motive  is  the  determining 
factor  in  life.  Not  external  circumstances,  not  even 
human  deeds,  but  the  inner  spirit  and  purpose  are  the 
things  of  fundamental  importance.  Evil  outer  conditions 
and  even  evil  acts  are  only  symptoms,  evidences  of  a 
wrong  condition  within.  So  true  is  this  that  even 
murder,  adultery,  blasphemy,  and  retaliation  are  regarded 
by  Jesus  only  as  manifestations  of  an  inner  attitude  of 
hate,  lust,  irreverence,  and  ill  will.^  The  tree  that  is 
rotten  within  brings  forth  evil  fruit.  The  good  tree 
spontaneously  brings  forth  good  fruit.    Hence  make  the 


^Matthew  5:21-48. 


no         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

tree  good  and  the  fruit  will  take  care  of  itself.    Out  of  the 
Jieart  are  all  the  issues  of  life. 

Moreover,  according  to  Christianity,  there  is  one 
motive  that  is  to  be  controlling  in  human  life.  It  is  love — 
the  desire  that  all  men  shall  have  fullness  of  life  in  keep- 
ing with  their  divine  possibilities.  "Thou  shalt  love" — 
this  is  Jesus'  summary  of  the  Christian  way  of  life.  In 
the  epigrammatic  words  of  Augustine,  "Ama  et  fac  quod 
vis'* — only  really  love,  then  you  may  do  as  you  will. 
For  love  is  not  one  motive  among  others;  it  is  the  all- 
embracing  Christian  motive.  All  other  commandments 
are  ''comprehended  in  this  saying,  namely.  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself."^ 

So  the  Christian  goal  is  to  create  love.  But  how  is  it 
to  be  done  ?  By  what  means  is  this  motive  to  be  developed 
in  the  lives  of  men  and  women  who  do  not  now  recog- 
nize its  primacy?  The  Christian  answer  is  that  love  is 
created  by  love.  It  is  a  self-perpetuating  virtue,  eliciting 
the  same  attitude  in  others.  "We  love  him,'*  says  the 
Apostle,  "because  he  first  loved  us."^  And  the  same  prin- 
ciple holds  true  in  all  social  life:  love  is  called  out  by 
love.  This  is  the  way  in  which  family  affection  is  devel-  . 
oped  in  the  home.  The  love  of  the  parent  awakens  an 
answering  love  in  the  child.  In  wider  social  relationships 
the  same  thing  is  true :  intelligent  good  will  toward  others 
evokes  an  answering  attitude  on  their  part.  Even  in  the 
treatment  of  offenders  against  society,  modern  penology 
recognizes  the  efficacy  of  the  method.  Sympathetic  in- 
terest arouses  the  better  self  when  all  methods  of  com- 
pulsion fail.  An  inner  spirit  is  always  developed  only 
by  a  spiritual  appeal. 

The  emphasis  of  Christianity  on  the  motive  sets  the 
Christian  method  in  contrast  with  any  method  that  sub- 
stitutes less  spiritual  methods  of  realizing  its  ends. 
Christianity  insists  that  the  betterment  of  society  is  im- 

^Romans  13 : 9. 
•I  John  4:19. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  iii 

possible  without  a  change  of  motive.  Social  progress  is 
contingent  on  moral  advance.  Only  as  love  gains  power 
over  human  life  can  a  better  social  order  be  secured.  No 
changes  in  the  external  framework  of  society  will  suffice. 
However  necessary  they  be,  they  never  go  to  the  root  of 
the  matter.  Self-interest  must  give  way  to  concern  for 
the  common  good.  Other  changes  are  important  only 
as  they  minister  to  this  inner  change.  But  when  outer 
conditions  do  affect  men's  motives,  as  they  clearly  do, 
making  the  spirit  of  love  either  easier  or  more  difficult, 
they  become  of  vital  concern.^ 

Thus  the  central  place  which  love  should  have  in 
human  life  gives  us  two  practical  standards  for  judging 
any  proposed  changes  in  the  industrial  system.  We  have 
to  ask  in  the  first  place  whether  they  are  expressions  of 
the  motive  of  love,  and,  in  the  second  place,  whether  they 
will  if  adopted  help  to  extend  its  sway  in  the  social  order. 
And  it  is  important  to  distinguish  between  the  two  parts 
of  the  test.  A  movement  may  spring  from  a  genuinely 
Christian  motive  and  yet  not  be  wise  enough  to  produce 
results  consonant  with  the  Christian  end.  And,  on  the 
other  hand,  worthy  by-products,  which  the  Christian  will 
welcome,  may  result  even  though  the  chief  motive  was 
narrower  than  seeking  the  largest  common  good.  What 
our  attitude  should  be  toward  the  present  labor  ^move- 
ment, for  example,  or  toward  any  section  of  it,  may  be 
clarified  by  this  twofold  test.  We  need  to  ask,  first, 
whether  its  policies  and  activities  spring  from  the  desire 
to  promote  human  welfare,  to  give  to  men  and  women  a 
larger,  more  satisfying,  and  more  useful  life.  Second, 
we  must  inquire  whether  its  program,  if  successful,  will 
result  in  making  the  motive  of  love  more  controlling  in 
our  social  life.  If,  as  Christians,  we  participate  in  the 
labor  movement,  it  must  be  for  one  or  other  of  these 
reasons. 

This  consideration  of  our  standard  for  judging  pro- 

*Cf.  p.  15. 


112         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

posed  changes  has  made  it  clear  that  the  difficulties 
in  the  way  of  realizing  all  that  is  involved  in  the 
motive  of  love  are  of  two  kinds.  There  are,  in  the  first 
place,  those  which  are  due  to  lack  of  knowledge,  and, 
in  the  second  place,  those  which  are  due  to  lack  of  will. 

The  difficulty  presented  by  the  meagerness  of  our 
knowledge  is  a  serious  one.  Men  who  agree  in  being 
committed  to  the  Christian  ideal  and  in  being  animated 
by  the  motive  of  love  nevertheless  differ  widely  in  their 
judgment  concerning  the  economic  organization  that 
would  best  lend  itself  to  securing  the  common  goal.  One 
is  an  individualist  and  another  a  socialist  because  they 
genuinely  disagree  as  to  whether  private  ownership  of  the 
means  of  production  results,  on  the  whole,  in  the  largest 
social  good.  They  both  recognize  that  economic  organi- 
zation must  in  any  case  be  such  as  to  secure  the  quantity 
of  production  essential  to  the  best  living,  but  one  believes 
that  the  needed  energy  and  initiative  can  be  secured 
under  social  ownership,  while  the  other  is  not  convinced 
that  this  is  the  case. 

But  more  perplexing  and  far  more  serious  is  the  con- 
flict of  wills.  Even  Christians  are  often  only  in  part 
committed  to  the  principles  of  their  religion.  Applying 
them  in  their  own  private  life  and  in  certain  social  rela- 
tionships, they  yet  make  reservations  concerning  their 
wider  application.  And  we  find  many  others  who  frankly 
repudiate  Christianity.  They  do  not  accept  its  principles 
and  do  not  intend  to  be  guided  by  the  motive  of  love.  So 
far  as  they  have  the  power  they  mean  to  perpetuate  con- 
ditions which  Christianity  cannot  approve,  provided  only 
those  conditions  work  to  their  own  advantage.  How 
can  we  apply  the  motive  of  love  in  the  case  of  those  who 
do  not  recognize  it  ? 

The  answer  to  the  questions  raised  by  these  obstacles 
will  concern  us  later,  when  we  consider  the  problems 
that  arise  in  the  application  of  the  Christian  method  as  a 
whole.    But  enough  has  already  been  said  to  suggest  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  113 

question  whether  the  principle  of  love  can  be  regarded 
as  a  practicable  one.  Is  it  actually  workable  in  the  kind 
of  world  which  we  now  have,  with  so  much  ignorance  and 
evil  in  it?  To  this  insistent  question  we  have  to  take 
one  attitude  or  another,  and  that  attitude  will  in  large 
measure  determine  our  practical  endeavor.  We  are  led, 
therefore,  to  consider  the  principle  of  faith  as  help- 
ing to  define  further  the  Christian  method  of  realizing  our 
social  ideal. 

2.  By  Promoting  the  Attitude  of  Faith 

When  we  think  of  the  Christian  ideal  for  society  in  the 
light  of  society  as  it  now  is,  we  find  ourselves  asking. 
Can  that  ideal  ever  be  realized  ?  Are  the  principles  which 
we  have  found  to  be  structural  for  a  Christian  social 
order  really  capable  of  application  to  the  matter-of-fact 
world  in  which  we  live  ?  Can  men  generally  be  led  to  act 
in  the  interest  of  the  common  good  rather  than  of  a 
selfish  private  gain?  The  Christian  faith  in  God  and  in 
humanity,  as  contrasted  with  other  attitudes,  expresses 
the  confidence  that  the  Christian  ideal  can  and  will  be 
realized  in  human  life.  And  to  approach  all  the  problems 
of  our  collective  living  in  such  a  spirit  is  a  part  of  the 
Christian  method  of  progress. 

At  this  point,  in  fact,  we  reach  Christianity's  most  dis- 
tinctive contribution  to  the  solution  of  the  industrial 
problem.  The  principles  that  we  have  discussed  as  de- 
fining the  nature  of  the  Christian  ideal — the  value  of  per- 
sonality, brotherhood,  service — are  held  by  others  than 
Christians,  although  at  each  of  these  points  the  con- 
tribution of  Christianity  is  so  significant  that  the  Chris- 
tian's conviction  should  be  stronger  than  any  other's. 
But  what  definitely  differentiates  the  religious  point  of 
view — and  more  specifically  the  Christian  point  of  view — 
is  that  these  ideals  are  regarded  as  destined  to  be  realized. 
For  the  Christian  they  are  not  goals  merely  of  human 
imagining.     They  are  grounded  in  creation  itself;  they 


114         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

are  a  part  of  God's  plan  for  the  world.  They  are  not 
something  alien  to  human  nature,  and  so  of  doubtful  real- 
ization. God  Himself  has  implanted  them  in  the  spirit  of 
man.  Such  an  attitude  toward  ideals  makes  all  the 
practical  difference  in  the  world.  The  disciples'  prayer, 
"Increase  our  faith"^  therefore  expresses  an  always  pres- 
ent need. 

This  faith  which  the  Christian  has  in  the  realization  of 
his  ideal  is  based  upon  the  character  of  God  as  revealed 
in  Jesus  Christ.  "This  is  the  victory  that  overcometh 
the  world,  even  our  faith  .  .  .  that  Jesus  is  the  Son  of 
God."*  Believing  Christ-like  character  to  be  the  ultimate 
reality  in  the  universe,  we  cannot  but  have  confidence  in 
the  workability  of  love.  So  far  are  we  from  considering 
love  impracticable  that  we  are  convinced  that  any  method 
inconsistent  with  it  will  itself  ultimately  be  found  to  be 
unworkable  and  out  of  harmony  with  the  constitution  of 
the  universe.  We  believe  that  the  Christian  society  is  to 
be  realized,  because  it  is  the  will  of  God  that  it  shall 
be  realized  and  because  our  God  is  able  to  bring  His 
purposes  to  pass. 

Faith  in  God  carries  with  it  a  corresponding  faith  in 
human  nature.  For  man  is  the  child  of  God  and  it  is 
through  man  alone  that  God's  purpose  for  the  world  can 
be  achieved.  Confident  belief  in  the  inherent  capacity 
of  man  to  be  other  and  better  than  he  is  is  inseparable 
from  our  faith  in  God  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ.  For 
this  faith  means  that  what  human  nature  potentially  is 
is  truly  seen  in  Jesus  Christ :  that  what  He  was  all  men 
may  become.  Christianity  does  not  deny  that  there  is 
radical  evil  in  human  nature.  Indeed,  it  emphasizes  it. 
But  it  refuses  to  accept  it  as  final.  It  is  there  to  be 
changed  and  it  can  be  changed,  if  only  for  a  long  enough 
time  and  in  a  thorough  enough  way  we  bring  to  bear  upon 


"Luke  17:5. 
«I  John  5: 4,5. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  115 

it  the  principles  of  Christ.  Translated  into  terms  of  our 
daily  experience,  faith  in  the  divinity  of  Christ  is  a 
statement  of  our  conviction  that  He  can  and  will  rule 
over  all  our  social  life. 

The  overwhelming  significance  of  this  attitude  of  faith 
for  any  solution  of  present  industrial  problems  is*evident 
as  soon  as  we  realize  that  the  root  evil  from  which  we 
suffer  today  is  lack  of  faith  in  one  another.  In  the  atti- 
tude, for  example,  of  those  who  hold  economic  power 
toward  the  working  class  and  its  ideals  this  is  true. 
Many  refuse  to  admit  that  the  motives  of  the  workers 
can  be  anything  but  narrowly  selfish  and  materialistic. 
Even  when  the  goal  they  seek  is  recognized  as  legitimate, 
they  are  not  considered  good  enough  or  wise  enough  to 
be  trusted  to  have  any  large  share  in  bringing  it  to  pass. 
To  allow  labor  any  organized  power  is  regarded  as  only 
an  entering  wedge,  by  which  labor  might  establish  a  dic- 
tatorship of  its  own.  Distrust  is  likewise  characteristic 
of  the  attitude  of  workers  toward  employers.  Greed 
and  lust  of  power  are  attributed  even  to  employers  who 
are  honestly  seeking  the  worker's  welfare.  Each  side 
believes  that  the  other  is  concerned  merely  to  get  all  it 
can.  And  the  generab  public  distrusts  capital  and  labor 
alike,  not  expecting  either  group  to  put  the  general 
good  above  private  gain. 

So  in  the  whole  industrial  realm  we  move  in  an  atmos- 
phere of  suspicion.  Mutual  confidence  is  not  developed 
because  it  is  not  appealed  to.  For  all  this  distrust  there 
is,  of  course,  much  justification  in  present  facts,  but  the 
trouble  is  that  the  present  conditions  are  assumed  to  be 
inevitable  instead  of  being  recognized  as  something  to 
be  put  away.  Thus  to  distrust  humanity  is  to  make 
Christ's  words  untrue  and  His  example  of  no  effect,  for 
it  is  out  of  ordinary  men  like  ourselves  and  including  our- 
selves that  Christ  proposes  to  build  His  society.  If  we 
really  believed  that  God  had  created  men  in  His  image 
and  revealed  their  true  nature  in  Jesus  Christ,  we  should 


ii6         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

have  new  faith  in  the  good  will  of  men  and  in  their 
willingness  to  work  for  the  common  weal. 

The  present  industrial  situation  is  largely  parallel  to  the 
international  situation  that  culminated  in  the  World  War. 
For  years  fear  and  distrust  and  suspicion  of  one  another 
had  been  nourishing  the  conflict.  Men  in  their  corporate 
capacity  as  nations  were  not  willing  to  trust  the  motives 
of  their  neighbors ;  they  must  arm  against  them.  Disrup- 
tion of  humanity  and  almost  its  destruction  were  the 
result.  Now  that  the  war  is  over,  the  same  lack  of  faith 
continues  and  is  the  one  fundamental  obstacle  to  a  league 
of  nations.  We  do  not  yet  believe  that  Christian  prin- 
ciples apply  to  our  associates  and  neighbors,  to  say 
nothing  of  their  applying  to  our  enemies.  Neither  in  in- 
dustrial nor  in  international  relationships  can  we  find  real 
solutions  until  fear  and  distrust  are  replaced  by  faith. 
That  this  is  our  fundamental  need  is  now  recognized  on 
every  hand.  Every  other  way  has  been  tried  and  failed. 
Today  even  our  newspapers  and  journals  and  students 
of  economics  are  expressing  this  conclusion. 

In  the  present  atmosphere  of  distrust  in  the  world  of 
industry  the  Christian  method  of  faith  requires  two 
things.  In  the  first  place,  we  must  actually  step  out  in  an 
attitude  of  trust  in  our  fellows.  The  only  way  to  make 
the  irresponsible  trustworthy  is  to  trust  them,  just  as  God 
by  trusting  us  calls  out  trust  in  return.  It  is  true  that 
men  will  not  come  to  such  an  attitude  all  at  once.  The 
time  element,  here  as  elsewhere,  enters  in.  But  -that  is  all 
the  more  reason  for  making  a  beginning  now. 

In  the  second  place.  Christians  must  seek  to  discover 
what  there  is  in  our  present  industrial  organization  which 
breeds  a  conflict  of  group  interests  and  so  leads  to  dis- 
trust. Where  such  conditions  are  found,  it  is  of  the  most 
fundamental  importance  so  to  modify  existing  arrange- 
ments as  to  promote  instead  of  to  hinder  an  attitude  of 
mutual  confidence.  Our  appeal  to  men  to  trust  one  an- 
other and  to  act  in  a  cooperative  spirit  will  never  meet 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  117 

with  any  adequate  response  if  there  are  factors  in  the 
economic  situation  itself  which  are  needlessly  working 
against  such  a  result.  No  economic  arrangements  can 
in  themselves  create  this  inner  attitude  of  mutual  faith, 
but,  on  the  other  hand,  they  may  very  effectively  destroy 
it.  To  urge  the  employes  to  have  faith  in  the  employers 
in  a  factory  so  autocratically  organized  that  after  the 
market  rate  of  wages  has  been  paid  the  whole  profits  are 
appropriated  by  capital  will  be  of  no  avail.  Mutual  con- 
fidence is  too  dependent  on  a  mutuality  of  interests  to 
develop  freely  where  this  underlying  basis  is  lacking. 

3.     By  Directing  Growth  through  Education 

To  have  faith  in  the  coming  of  a  Christian  social  order 
does  not  mean  that  it  must  come  full-blown  tomorrow. 
God*s  method  is  a  method  of  .growth.  Not  even  He  can 
realize  His  purposes  in  a  moment.  It  is  so  in  the  case  of 
the  individual  life.  The  ideal  which  He  seeks  is  reached 
through  successive  stages,  as  Christian  truth  is  in- 
creasingly apprehended  and  appropriated  and  character 
progressively  transformed  thereby.  What  is  true  of  the 
individual  is  even  more  strikingly  true  of  society.  Here 
new  factors  arise  to  make  the  problem  more  complex. 
For  we  are  not  now  dealing  with  a  single  will  but  with 
a  group  of  wills,  some  of  which  seek  unchristian  ends 
directly  opposed  to  those  sought  by  others.  As  in  the 
parable  of  the  wheat  and  the  tares,  good  and  evil  elements 
exist  side  by  side  and  the  evil  cannot  in  simple  fashion 
be  rooted  out.  In  social  life,  as  well  as  in  the  life  of 
the  individual,  growth  is  the  law  and  education  the 
method  by  which  the  final  goal  is  to  be  achieved."^     In 

'To  discuss  the  question  of  the  apocalyptic  element  in  Jesus' 
teaching  concerning  the  Kingdom  would  take  us  too  far  afield. 
Here  it  is  sufficient  to  point  out  that  even  though  He  expected 
the  final  consummation  to  be  ushered  in  by  the  sudden  miraculous 
intervention  of  God,  He  nevertheless  insisted,  as  all  students  of 
the  Gospels  agree,  that  men  had  to  prepare  for  the  coming  of 
the  Kingdom  by  bringing  their  own  lives  into  accord  with  its 
principles. 


ii8         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

various  periods,  and  perhaps  by  some  Christians  in  all 
periods,  a  catastrophic  solution  of  all  human  problems 
has  been  looked  for.  Such  a  hope  has  often  seemed  the 
only  thing  that  could  make  it  possible  still  to  believe  in  the 
fulfilment  of  the  ideal.  But  the  normal  Christian  point 
of  view  is  that  ''through  the  ages  one  increasing  purpose 
runs.'* 

This  emphasis  on  growth  as  the  normal  method  of 
attainment  is  not  at  all  inconsistent  with  a  recognition 
of  the  importance  of  special  crises.  In  the  case  of  the 
individual  this  is  clear.  In  conversion,  in  renewed  conse- 
cration, in  the  call  of  the  prophet,  in  Jesus'  recognition  of 
his  Messiahship,  the  peculiar  significance  of  certain 
occasions  is  unmistakable.  So  far  as  any  individual  is 
headed  in  the  wrong  direction,  he  can  move  in  the  true 
direction  only  by  a  right  about  face.  In  society  as  a 
whole  it  may  sometimes  be  equally  essential  that  cer- 
tain wrong  points  of  view  be  definitely  renounced.  To 
point  this  out  is  one  of  the  most  important  functions  of 
Christian  education. 

But,  to  use  the  language  of  the  British  Labor  Party, 
society  cannot  be  built  anew  "in  a  year  or  two  of  feverish 
reconstruction."  Even  after  a  definite  turning  in  another 
direction  the  goal  is  reached  only  by  patiently  following 
the  new  path.  Step  by  step  we  have  tb  pass  from  one 
stage  to  another.  For  all  ideas  take  time  for  their  realiza- 
tion. After  the  seed  is  sown  it  must  be  a  case  of  "first 
the  blade,  then  the  ear,  after  that  the  full  corn  in  the 
ear."^  Or,  to  change  the  figure,  the  Christian  ideal  is  a 
leaven  which  works  continuously  until  it  actually  leavens 
the  whole  mass.^  Already  the  ideal  of  a  Christian  social 
order  is  at  work  in  human  life,  but  before  it  can  be  fully 
attained  there  must  be  increasing  apprehension  of  its  con- 
tent, enlarging  experience  of  its  value,  steady  discipline 
in  adaptation  to  its  demands,  and  gradual  experiment  as 


*Mark  4 :  28.    "Matthew  13 :  33. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  119 

to  how  it  can  be  realized.  Hence  to  have  faith  in  the 
Christian  social  principles  to  which  we  are  committed  is 
not  necessarily  to  believe  that  they  can  be  made  to  prevail 
all  at  once.  It  is,  however,  to  be  absolutely  convinced 
that  they  are  capable  of  progressive  realization,  that  all 
our  practical  efforts  should  be  directed  to  their  fulfilment, 
and  that  they  must  constitute  the  standard  by  which  our 
present  progress  is  to  be  judged. 

This  emphasis  on  progressive  inner  change  accounts  for 
the  great  significance  of  freedom  for  Christianity.  Free- 
dom is  not  something  which  we  cherish  for  its  own  sake, 
in  order  that  we  may  be  able  to  "do  as  we  please."  It 
is  to  be  treasured  as  the  indispensable  condition  for  the 
realization  of  the  ideal,  since  it  is  only  to  the  free  spirit 
that  ideals  can  appeal.  To  deny  the  method  of  freedom 
is  to  do  violence  to  the  fundamental  Christian  principle 
of  the  worth  of  personality,  for  to  be  a  person  and  to 
be  free  to  respond  to  the  ideal  are  but  two  ways  of  saying 
one  and  the  same  thing. 

Of  course  this  insistence  on  freedom  always  involves 
risk.  It  makes  possible  failure  and  sin  and  suffering. 
It  means  that  we  have  the  prodigal  son,  the  woman  in 
adultery,  the  slothful  servant,  the  unfaithful  steward,  the 
unmerciful  creditor,  the'  greedy  landlord  who  destroys 
widows'  houses,  all  those  who  bind  on  men's  shoulders 
heavy  burdens  and  grievous  to  be  borne.  It  means  that 
men  have  to  learn  by  experience  what  is  the  better  way. 
How  much  trouble  would  be  saved  if  only  they  were  com- 
pelled to  do  right !  The  path  of  freedom  is  the  long  way 
round  rather  than  the  short  way  home.  Yet  to  emphasize 
the  need  of  freedom  is  simply  to  insist  that  the  means 
for  realizing  a  Christian  social  order  must  be  such  as  to 
conform  to  its  nature  as  a  society  of  spiritual  person- 
alities. 

In  the  recognition  of  freedom  and  in  the  assumption  of 
the  consequent  risks,  Christianity  has  a  clear  point  of 
contact  with  democracy.    Democracy,  too,  means  learning 


I20         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

by  experience.  Hence  it  involves  peril  and  sometimes 
partial  failure,  as  every  method  of  experiment  inevitably 
does.  But  into  the  experiment  of  freedom  and  democracy, 
with  its  resulting  suffering,  Christianity  introduces  a  new 
factor.  For  in  the  Cross  of  Christ  is  revealed  the  re- 
demptive character  that  such  suffering  may  be  made  to 
have.  Through  sympathy  the  significance  of  life's  trage- 
dies may  be  transformed.  Brotherhood  may  become 
richer  and  more  satisfying  because  reached  through  an 
experience  of  comradeship  in  suffering  and  in  final 
triumph.  So  the  temporary  failure,  to  which  freedom 
sometimes  seems  to  lead,  may  become  the  road  to  the 
largest  ultimate  success. 

This  experience  of  the  larger  goal  that  is  opened  up 
through  freedom,  in  spite  of  the  anguish  and  failure 
involved,  is-  not  without  significance  for  the  present 
industrial  situation.  Looked  at  abstractly,  the  whole 
struggle  of  the  working  classes  for  better  conditions  of 
life  often  seems  a  sad  and  futile  record  of  incompetency, 
misunderstanding,  and  failure.  But  seen  from  within,  in 
the  light  of  our  Christian  principles,  this  struggle  of  the 
workers  is  a  step  in  the  progress  of  mankind  toward 
brotherhood.  Behind  it  there  lies  a  succession  of  ex- 
periments in  the  use  and  misuse  of  freedom  which  have 
resulted  in  great  human  suffering  for  millions  of  men. 
But  at  the  same  time,  there  has  developed  a  sense  of  one- 
ness among  those  who  suffer  that  may  make  for  an 
increasing  appreciation  of  the  solidarity  of  mankind. 
What  we  have  to  do,  therefore,  as  Christians  in  our 
contact  with  the  labor  movement  is  to  interpret  the 
meaning  of  the  struggle  in  order  that  we  may  be  able 
sympathetically  to  reenforce  the  motives  in  it  that  make 
for  brotherhood  as  against  those  that  end  in  class  selfish- 
ness. 

4.  Problems  of  Application 

To  develop  the  inner  motive  of  love,  to  promote  the 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  121 

attitude  of  faith,  to  nourish  a  process  of  growth  in  social 
living — these  we  have  found  to  be  important  aspects  of 
the  Christian  method  of  securing  a  better  social  order. 
When,  however,  we  begin  to  consider  the  positive  changes 
that  need  to  be  brought  about  if  we  are  to  have  a  Christian 
society,  we  find  ourselves  confronted  with  perplexing 
difficulties  in  the  practical  application  of  this  method. 
Before  proceeding  to  a  discussion  of  the  needed  changes 
we  must,  therefore,  analyze  some  of  the  problems  that 
arise  when  we  try  to  apply  the  Christian  method  to  the 
present  industrial  situation. 

The  difficulties  arise  from  the  fact  that  we  live  in  a 
world  in  which  there  is  little  unity  of  purpose  and  of 
spirit.  Both  the  ends  which  men  seek  and  the  motives 
by  which  they  are  actuated  in  seeking  them  differ  greatly. 
This  means  that  there  can  be  no  simple  rule  of  thumb  by 
which  to  apply  in  a  uniform  manner  the  methods  which 
we  have  found  to  grow  out  of  the  very  nature  of  the 
Christian  ideal.  If  we  would  proceed  intelligently  and 
effectively  we  must  take  into  account  the  complexity  in 
the  existing  situation.  We  must  inquire  in  detail  what 
the  differences  are  among  the  people  with  whom  we  have 
to  deal  in  working  to  secure  a  Christian  social  order  and 
what  these  differences  may  mean  for  our  procedure. 

The  men  and  women  who  constitute  society  as  it  now 
is  align  themselves,  consciously  or  unconsciously,  with 
one  of  three  different  groups,  so  far  as  their  attitude 
toward  the  Christian  ideal  is  concerned.  There  are,  in 
the  .first  place,  those  who  seek  the  Christian  end,  or  can 
be  led  to  seek  it,  from  the  Christian  motive.  They  are 
honestly  committed  to  seeking  a  Christian  social  goal  in 
the  Christian  way,  however  much  they  fail  to  live  up  to 
their  ideal.  There  are,  in  the  second  place,  those  who  in 
the  main  seek  the  same  end  but  do  so  from  a  different 
motive.  They  include,  for  example,  those  members  of 
the  labor  movement  who  are  concerned  to  secure  such 
larger    opportunities    for    the    working    class    as    are 


122         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

thoroughly  consistent  with,  and  indeed  demanded  by,  the 
fundamental  Christian  principle  of  the  worth  of  all  per- 
sonalities, but  whose  conscious  motive  may  be  only  to 
secure  a  class  triumph  and  a  redistribution  of  property. 
Finally,  there  are  still  others  who  seek  ends  that  are  in 
themselves  inconsistent  with  the  Christian  goal.  The 
reasons  for  their  doing  so  are  of  two  kinds.  The  first 
reason  is  ignorance  or  misunderstanding  as  to  what  is 
really  involved  in  the  Christian  ideal.  The  other  is 
positive  ill  will  and  refusal  to  follow  the  better  way. 
Whereas  some  reject  Christianity  because  they  suppose 
that  love  means  only  sentimentality  and  flabbiness  and 
that  vigorous  self-assertion  is  the  necessary  path  of 
progress,  others  do  so  because,  being  in  a  position  of 
privilege  in  our  present  social  order,  they  are  concerned 
only  to  preserve  their  present  status,  regardless  of  the 
injustice  and  oppression  that  existing  social  or  political 
or  economic  arrangements  may  cause  to  hosts  of  their 
fellowmen. 

In  a  society  of  men  and  women  with  such  diverse 
attitudes  as  these  toward  the  Christian  ideal  we  have  to 
try  to  apply  the  Christian  method.  Obviously,  the  situa- 
tion is  not  one  in  which  an  unvarying  procedure  can  be 
prescribed.  So  far  as  we  are  dealing  with  the  first  group 
that  we  have  described — those  who  seek  what  we  seek 
from  the  same  motive — no  problem  of  application  is 
presented.  With  all  such  we  gladly  enter  into  the  fullest 
cooperation,  joining  hand  in  hand  to  further  a  common 
goal  in  a  common  way. 

When  our  relationships  are  with  the  second  group — 
the  men  and  women  who  seek  an  end  consistent  with 
Christianity  but  from  motives  other  than  the  Christian 
purpose  to  serve  the  highest  good  of  all  men — difficulties 
arise,  yet  hardly  of  a  perplexing  kind.  Since  we  approve 
the  ends  they  seek,  it  is  clear  that  we  must  cooperate  with 
them  in  all  practical  efforts  to  achieve  those  ends.  If 
protective  legislation  is  sought  to  secure  better  wages  or 


I 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  123 

more  reasonable  hours  for  those  who  are  now  in  such 
a  position  of  economic  disadvantage  that  they  can  not 
secure  these  rights  for  themselves,  none  should  be  as 
eager  as  the  Christian  to  bring  this  result  about.  If  the 
support  of  public  opinion  is  needed  to  uphold  the  rights 
of  workers  to  organize  in  such  a  way  as  to  better  their 
standards  of  living  and  their  conditions  of  work,  there 
should  be  no  question  as  to  the  side  on  which  the  Chris- 
tian should  take  his  stand.  But  in  such  cooperation  he 
will  never  forget  that  the  factor  of  final  significance  is 
the  inner  purpose  for  which  any  external  change  is 
sought.  In  participating  in  any  such  movement  for 
social  changes  he  will,  therefore,  place  his  emphasis 
unmistakably  upon  the  importance  of  the  underlying 
motive,  and,  as  occasion  arises,  will  freely  express  his 
disapproval  of  any  motive  less  worthy  than  that  of  love. 

When  we  consider  our  relationship  with  the  third  class 
— those  who  purposely  seek  ends  inconsistent  with  the 
Christian  goal — we  find  ourselves  confronted  with  a  far 
more  perplexing  question.  So  far  as  their  attitude  is  de- 
termined by  ignorance  or  misunderstanding  of  the  Chris- 
tian ideal  of  life  our  problem  is  obviously  that  of  educa- 
tion, which  we  shall  consider  later.  With  every  available 
means  at  our  command  we  must  seek  to  bring  home 
to  them  the  meaning  of  Christianity  in  such  effective 
ways  that  it  will  appeal  to  their  wills  and  secure  a  free 
response.  But,  unfortunately,  lack  of  knowledge  is  not 
our  only  difficulty.  We  have  to  deal  also  with  the 
greatest  of  human  problems — the  men  and  women  who, 
seeing  the  good,  call  it  evil  and  say  to  evil,  "Be  thou 
our  good."  We  have  not  really  faced  the  final  issue  till 
we  ask  what,  as  Christians,  we  are  to  do  in  our  relation- 
ships with  men  of  unsocial  will. 

An  answer  commonly  given  is  that  we  are  to  restrain 
them  by  law.  And  as  a  partial  answer  it  is  thoroughly 
in  keeping  with  the  Christian  view.  For  by  legislation 
we  can  help  to  create  an  environment  in  which  it  will 


124         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

be  more  difficult  to  carry  out  anti-social  purposes 
and  in  which  those  who  are  now  too  weak  to  defend 
themselves  may  receive  a  certain  amount  of  protection. 
A  child  labor  law,  for  example,  can  do  much  to  safeguard 
children  from  those  who  would  exploit  them  for  selfish 
ends.  Laws  against  the  sale  of  intoxicants  or  against 
commercialized  vice  can  help  to  create  conditions  in  which 
men  are  less  likely  to  be  led  into  needless  temptation  by 
those  who  would  appeal  to  lower  appetites  for  the  sake  of 
gain.  But  legislation  can  never  be  more  than  a  partial 
solution  of  the  problem.  Being  only  an  external  re- 
straint, it  cannot  in  itself  secure  the  inner  change  which 
is  indispensable  to  creating  a  Christian  society.  There 
must  be  the  appeal  of  a  positive  ideal  and  the  free  re- 
sponse of  the  spirit  in  a  new  motive.  The  utmost  that 
legislation  can  do  is  to  modify  the  outer  environment  in 
such  a  way  that  the  motive  of  love  finds  less  sharp 
opposition. 

And  sometimes  legislation  fails  to  accomplish  even  as 
much  as  this.  The  best  of  laws  may  be  ignored  or 
opposed.  The  question  of  a  conflict  of  wills  therefore 
finally  arises.  What,  then,  we  have  to  ask,  is  the  bearing 
of  the  Christian  ideal  and  the  Christian  method  on  such 
a  situation? 

Christianity  fully  recognizes  the  place  of  conflict  in 
the  world.  To  call  men  to  live  for  the  Kingdom  of 
righteousness  and  love  is  to  summon  them  to  oppose  all 
the  forces  of  evil  and  of  selfishness.  In  this  sense  it  is 
always  true  that  Jesus  comes  "not  to  send  peace  but 
a  sword."  The  ideal  that  He  sets  before  men  demands 
an  alignment  of  wills  for  or  against  His  \(^ay  of  life  and 
makes  a  cleavage  between  those  who  live  for  the  common 
good  and  those  who  live  for  wrong  and  selfish  ends.  So 
long  as  there  is  still  evil  in  the  world,  it  must  be  opposed 
and  overcome. 

But  by  what  method  is  evil  to  be  opposed?  The 
answer  is  usually  given  in  terms  of  the  use  of  force.     It 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  125 

IS  an  answer  which  has  been  definitely  made  both  in  the 
international  and  in  the  industrial  realm.  For  in  a  very 
real  sense  the  class  struggle  which  we  have  found  to 
be  characteristic  of  our  modern  industrial  life  is  a  form 
of  war.  This  is,  in  fact,  frankly  recognized  in  the  term 
"class  war,"  so  often  used.  The  class  struggle  ordinarily 
uses  as  its  weapon  a  strike  in  which  injury  to  property 
or  to  life  is  carefully  avoided.  Yet  it  is  still  essentially 
an  appeal  to  might — to  economic  strength — on  the  part  of 
two  opposing  groups,  each  of  which  seeks  to  wrest  as 
much  as  possible  from  the  other.  What  does  Christianity 
have  to  say  to  such  a  use  of  force,  whether  physical  or 
economic,  to  settle  the  issue  of  a  conflict  of  wills?    . 

To  discuss  this  subject  fully  would  require  us  to  raise 
the  vexed  question  of  pacifism.  The  arguments  on  one 
side  and  the  other  have,  however,  been  so  fully  given  that 
it  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  them  here.  We  are  concerned 
with  the  debate  only  in  its  bearing  upon  economic  con- 
flicts. What  is  to  be  the  Christian's  attitude  toward 
the  industrial  struggle? 

This  much  at  least  seems  clear — that  whatever  attitude 
we  take  toward  international  war  applies  also  to  class  war. 
We  cannot  admit  that  war  between  nations  is  ever  right 
and  at  the  same  time  hold  that  class  conflict  is  never  right. 
As  there  may  be  situations  in  the  relations  between  na- 
tions which  lead  many  Christians  to  believe  that  it  is  right 
to  fight,  as  in  the  case  of  a  war  of  self-defense  against 
ruthless  attack  or  in  defense  of  the  defenseless,  so  in  the 
industrial  realm  there  may  arise  intolerable  situations  in 
which  those  who  hold  autocratic  power  through  owning 
all  the  means  of  production  use  their  power  so  selfishly 
that  a  strike  may  be  the  only  weapon  of  defense  available. 
Indeed,  the  strike  can  often  be  justified  when  interna- 
tional warfare  cannot,  because  the  strike  does  not  ordi- 
narily involve  a  reckless  loss  of  human  life. 

But  warfare  can  never  be  regarded  by  the  Christian 
as  anything  but  a  temporary  and  terrible  expedient,  never 


126        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

to  be  used  except  when  forced  upon  us  by  men  so  blind 
and  self-seeking  that  they  will  not  accept  any  other  way. 
This  is  true  whether  the  conflict  be  between  nations  or 
economic  classes.  War  cannot  possibly  be  anything  but 
a  last  horrible  resort  and  a  merely  ad  interim  measure, 
for  it  is  disruptive  of  the  very  social  solidarity  that  Chris- 
tianity seeks.  So  the  strike,  like  battles  between  nations, 
never  settles  anything  permanently.  It  is  only  a  means  of 
bringing  about  a  state  in  which  it  becomes  possible  to 
employ  other  methods,  and  it  is  often  at  a  cost  so  great  as 
to  do  more  harm  than  good.^^  Never  can  it  be  thought 
of  as  other  than  the  lesser  of  two  awful  evils.  The  best 
that  we  can  say  for  such  a  method  is  that  it  is  less  of  a 
denial  of  brotherhood  than  it  would  be  to  acquiesce  in 
selfish  domination.  The  class  struggle,  then,  remains, 
not  as  consistent  with  the  Christian  ideal,  but  as  a  tempo- 
rary and  second-best  procedure  until  we  can  secure  a 
more  democratic  distribution  of  power  and  its  more 
brotherly  use.  To  accept  as  ultimate  the  conflict  of 
nations  or  classes  is  the  final  denial  of  the  Christian  goal 
for  humanity. 

The  fact  that  we  have  just  emerged  from  the  greatest 
period  of  international  violence  in  human  history  must 
not  be  allowed  to  make  our  witness  against  war  in  any 
way  equivocal.  We  must  all  admit  a  share  in  our  collec- 
tive responsibility  for  our  tragic  failure  in  not  having 
provided  other  means  than  an  arbitrament  of  physical 
might  for  adjusting  differences  of  will.  Not  having  done 
so,  we  have  reaped  the  staggering  consequences  on  fields 
of  blood.  When  once  an  aggressive  attack  had  been  pre- 
cipitated, it  was  then  too  late  to  create  other  means  of 
settlement.  There  was  nothing  left  to  do  but  to  go 
through  a  brutal,  inhuman,  unchristian  business  that 
never  ought  to  have  been.  In  our  industrial  relations  it 
is  not  yet  too  late.     It  is  still  possible  for  us  so  to  organize 

^"For  a  discussion  of  arbitration  as  a  possible  substitute  for 
strikes,  see  pages  153-154  of  this  report. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  127 

our  economic  life  on  a  basis  of  seeking  the  common  good 
that  the  spirit  of  war  and  the  tendency  to  conflict  will  be 
removed.  The  imperative  need  of  doing  so  is  brought 
home  to  us  more  vividly  than  ever  by  the  terrific  conse- 
quences of  our  failure  to  do  so  in  the  international  realm. 
For  nothing  is  clearer  than  that  the  World  War  was  but 
the  natural  culmination  of  the  previous  insistence  of  na- 
tions on  seeking  selfish  ends  instead  of  the  largest  common 
weal.  Definitely  to  commit  itself  to  the  law  of  love,  both 
in  international  and  in  industrial  relationships,  is  society's 
greatest  need.  To  hold  up  the  ideal  of  this  "more  ex- 
cellent way"  is  the  opportunity  and  responsibility  of  the 
Church. 

Even  while  the  class  struggle  is  still  a  present  fact, 
there  are  clearly  certain  things  which  the  progressive 
application  of  the  method  of  love  demands.  Foremost 
among  these  is  that  the  struggle  should  be  carried  on 
without  resort  to  violence.  We  can  unmistakably  insist 
that  if  men  must  fight,  they  fight  within  the  limits  which 
the  law  provides.  In  a  country  in  which  democratic 
political  rights  are  guaranteed  and  in  which  the  right  to 
strike  is  not  denied,  there  can  be  no  excuse  whatever  for 
the  use  of  violent  methods  in  the  economic  struggle.  The 
ineffectiveness  and  self-defeating  character  of  any 
destructive  means  of  securing  social  betterment  are 
clearer  than  ever  in  the  light  of  the  war.  We  see  that 
violence  calls  forth  its  like,  that  it  engenders  a  spirit  con- 
trary to  seeking  any  social  ends,  that  it  is  impossible  to 
cast  out  devils  by  Beelzebub. 

In  insisting  that  the  use  of  violent  methods  in  industrial 
disputes  is  contrary  to  the  Christian  spirit  we  must  make 
it  entirely  clear  that  our  protest  against  violence  is 
directed  to  over-zealous  defenders  of  existing  social  con- 
ditions, as  well  as  to  those  who  are  seeking  redress  of 
industrial  wrongs  and  a  different  social  order.  We  have 
frankly  to  recognize  that  there  have  been  not  a  few 
occasions   within  the   past  year  or   two   in  which   the 


128         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

actions  and  utterances  of  those  who  demanded  law  and 
order  most  loudly  have  been  unhappy  examples  of  its 
violation.^  1  In  the  case  of  certain  industrial  disputes  in 
which  violence  on  the  part  of  strikers  has  occurred,  it 
seems  to  have  resulted,  in  part  at  least,  from  the  re- 
pressive or  violent  methods  used  by  those  who  were  set 
by  the  civic  authorities  to  enforce  the  laws.^^  'ri^ig 
situation  has  sometimes  been  aggravated  by  the  repre- 
hensible practice  of  so-called  "private  detective  bureaus" 
in  supplying  armed  guards,  who  are  often  sworn  in  as 
deputy  constables  but  nevertheless  paid  by  the  employ- 
ing corporations  and  under  their  control,  and  who,  being 
largely  recruited  from  the  ranks  of  ex-convicts  or  men 
of  doubtful  character,  have  often  been  found  to  be  re- 
sponsible for  beginning  the  unnecessary  use  of  violence.^ ^ 
The  insistence  upon  social  progress  by  conformity  to 
the  orderly  processes  of  law  carries  with  it,  as  a  necessary 
corollary,  the  guaranteeing  of  democratic  rights  to  those 
who  are  seeking  social  change.  If  we  are  to  demand  that 
other  means  than  violence  be  found  for  changing  unjust 
conditions,  we  must  make  it  possible  for  other  means  to 
be  used.     But  this  cannot  be  done  unless  there  is  such 


"On  May  Day,  1919,  for  example,  in  the  name  of  law  and  order 
a  mob  in  which  men  wearing  the  United  States  uniform  were 
prominent  made  an  unwarranted  attack  upon  the  office  of  a  New 
York  Socialist  paper  and  wounded  several.  In  a  lamentable  riot 
in  the  state  of  Washington  in  which  four  United  States  soldiers 
were  killed  by  members  of  the  I.  W.  W.  organization,  one  of  tlie 
guilty  members  was  taken  from  jail  and  illegally  lynched  by  a 
group  that  was  demanding  the  defense  of  the  Government  and 
the  enforcement  of  the  law.  These  are  familiar  facts  recorded 
in  the  daily  press. 

**The  report  of  the  investigations  of  the  1919  Lawrence  strike 
by  the  Social  Service  Commission  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America  reached  this  conclusion.  Com- 
pare "Closed  Towns,"  by  S.  Adele  Shaw,  in  the  Survey,  Nov.  8, 
1919,  a  description  of  the  denial  of  free  speech  and  free  as- 
semblage to  strikers  in  the  steel  industry. 

^^See  Robert  Hunter's  "Violence  and  the  Labor  Movement.'* 
Cf.  also  Final  Report  of  the  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations, 
pp.  139-155.  As  long  ago  as  the  Homestead  strike  in  1892, 
a  Pennsylvania  Senate  Committee  reported  the  hiring  of  armed 
guards  to  be  responsible  for  much  of  the  violence. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  129 

freedom  of  discussion  as  to  allow  grievances  to  be  heard 
and  to  make  possible  the  use  of  moral  persuasion  in 
securing  support  for  proposed  changes.  To  repress 
honest  dissent  is  to  imperil  orderly  social  progress.  As  a 
matter  of  practical  consequence  it  must  be  remembered 
that  the  denial  of  civil  liberties  has  always  been  a  main 
cause  of  violence.  If  free  discussion  in  the  open  is  pre- 
vented, those  who  wish  to  protest  are  driven  into  the  dark 
and  forced  to  seek  methods  that  may  prove  inimical  to 
social  welfare.^ ^  Upon  the  classes  that  are  most  power- 
ful, therefore,  there  rests  a  special  responsibility.  They 
must  maintain  for  all  men  the  right  of  free  criticism  and 
discussion,  in  order  that  no  group  may  be  denied  its  right 
to  appeal  to  rational  public  opinion  for  support.  The 
findings  of  the  Federal  Commission  on  Industrial  Rela- 
tions on  this  point  deserve  more  attention  than  they  have 
received : 

''Violence  is  seldom,  if  ever,  spontaneous,  but  arises 
from  a  conviction  that  fundamental  rights  are  denied  and 
that  peaceful  methods  of  adjustment  cannot  be  used. 
The  sole  exception  seems  to  lie  in  the  situation  where, 
intoxicated  with  power,  the  stronger  party  to  the  dispute 
relies  upon  force  to  suppress  the  weaker."!^ 


"It  was  a  realization  of  the  fundamental  importance  of  liberty 
of  opinion  and  of  discussion  that  led  a  widely  known  group  of 
ministers  a  few  months  ago  to  make  a  public  protest  against 
current  tendencies  to  crush  the  expression  of  views  differing 
from  those  of  the  majority.     They  said  in  part: 

"We,  the  undersigned,  ministers  of  the  Church  of  Christ, 
beHeving  that  the  political  institutions  of  our  country  commend 
themselves  to  the  reason  and  conscience  of  mankind  sufficiently 
to  stand  the  test  of  such  freedom  of  speech  as  has  hitherto  in 
time  of  peace,  been  accorded  by  our  Government  to  the  aliens 
who  have  come  to  us  for  asylum,  as  well  as  to  our  citizens,  are 
moved  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  people  of  the  churches  of 
America  on  account  of  certain  measures  inconsiderately  under- 
taken, which  threaten  the  basic  principles  of  our  Government. 
We  have  long  been  saying  that  constitutional  changes  can  be 
effected  without  violence  in  America  because  of  our  right  to 
free  expression  of  opinion  by  voice  and  ballot.  We  cannot  now 
deny  this  American  substitute  for  violence  without  directly  er>- 
couraging  resort  to  revolution."  See  New  York  Tribune,  Jan. 
28,  1920. 

^'Final  Report,  op.  cit.,  p.  139. 


I30        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

When  there  are  so  many  unchristian  aspects  of  our 
present  industrial  order,  we  must  guard  against  a  too 
rigid  orthodoxy  in  defending  the  status  quo.  Almost 
more  than  any  other  single  thing  we  need  unhampered, 
honest  discussion  of  social  problems  and  proposed  solu- 
tions. We  cannot  afford  to  allow  sincere  criticism  of  the 
evils  of  our  present  economic  life  to  be  identified  with 
treason  or  sedition  or  to  put  the  critic  in  peril  of  prison 
bars.  A  recent  statement  of  Justice  Holmes  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  in  dissenting  from 
the  majority  opinion  of  the  court  in  a  sedition  case,  is 
worth  careful  reflection : 

"When  men  have  realized  that  time  has  upset  many 
fighting  faiths,  they  may  come  to  believe  even  more  than 
they  believe  the  very  foundations  of  their  own  conduct 
that  the  ultimate  good  desired  is  better  realized  by  free 
trade  in  ideas — that  the  best  test  of  truth  is  the  power  of 
the  thought  to  get  itself  accepted  in  the  competition  of  the 
market.  .  .  .  That,  at  any  rate,  is  the  theory  of  our 
Constitution.''!^ 

With  this  we  may  recall  the  oft-quoted  and  immortal 
words  of  John  Milton : 

"Though  all  the  winds  of  doctrine  were  let  loose,  to 
play  upon  the  earth,  so  truth  be  in  the  field,  we  do 
injuriously  by  licensing  and  prohibiting  to  misdoubt  her 
strength.  Let  her  and  falsehood  grapple;  who  ever  knew 
truth  put  to  the  worse,  in  a  free  and  open  encounter? 
Her  confuting  is  the  best  and  surest  suppression." 

Such  freedom  of  discussion  is  the  only  approach  to 
our  problems  that  can  be  finally  consistent  with  the  method 
of  love  and  faith  and  growth,  which  we  have  found  to 
point  the  Christian  way.  The  motive  of  love,  the  inner 
quality  on  which  all  else  depends,  cannot  be  developed 
by  outward  coercion.     The  attitude  of  faith  in  God  and 


*'^For  the  full  text  of  Justice  Holmes's  opinion  in  the  case  of 
the  United  States  against  Abrams  et  al.  see  The  Survey,  Nov.  22, 
1919. 


THE  CHRISTIAN  METHOD  131 

humanity  must  mean  confidence  that  men  will  finally 
respond  voluntarily  to  the  truth.  And  the  method  of 
growth  can  be  effective  only  when  free  personal  assent 
to  the  ideal  is  possible.  In  a  word,  the  means  for  realizing 
the  Christian  end  must  correspond  to  the  nature  of  that 
end  as  a  society  of  spiritual  personalities. 


CHAPTER  V 

PRESENT   PRACTICABLE    STEPS    TOWARD   A 
MORE  CHRISTIAN  INDUSTRIAL  ORDER 

Those  who  accept  the  Christian  principles  of  the 
sacredness  of  personality,  brotherhood,  and  service  are 
thereby  committed  to  taking  every  step  in  their  power 
which  will  lead  to  the  realization  of  these  principles 
in  our  social  life.  As  to  the  extent  of  change  that  this  may 
require  there  is  room  for  much  difference  of  opinion 
among  those  who  agree  in  seeking  the  common  goal. 
Some  are  convinced  that  the  ideal  can  be  realized  within 
the  existing  system ;  others  that  a  radical  reorganization  is 
necessary.  But  whichever  point  of  view  ultimately 
proves  correct,  all  are  alike  concerned  that  the  order 
under  which  we  are  now  living  should  work  for  Chris- 
tian ends  to  the  fullest  extent  that  is  possible.  We  shall, 
therefore,  consider  first  certain  measures  immediately 
practicable  for  remedying  some  of  the  unchristian  aspects 
of  our  present  industrial  life.  In  the  following  chapter 
we  shall  raise  the  question  of  the  longer  future  and 
inquire  what  amount  of  more  thoroughgoing  change  may 
be  called  for. 

We  recognize,  of  course,  that  the  actual  motives  of 
some  of  those  who  are  working  for  measures  which  we 
shall  here  discuss  may  be  other  than  Christian.  In- 
creased income,  greater  leisure,  or  a  different  distribution 
of  economic  power  may  be  sought  for  narrowly  selfish 
ends  as  well  as  for  the  sake  of  the  growing  good  of  all 
mankind.  But,  as  pointed  out  in  Chapter  II,  there  is 
a  distinctly  Christian  interest  in  each  of  these  industrial 
problems  for  which  solutions  are  being  sought  even  in 
circles  uninfluenced  by  the  Church.     It  is  the  part  of 

132 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  133 

Christians,  then,  while  cooperating  in  securing  these 
changes,  to  work  for  their  acceptance  from  definitely 
Christian  motives  and  because  they  are  demanded  by  right 
principles.  But  unless  we  give  our  best  thought  as 
to  how  these  principles  are  to  be  applied  and  these 
motives  to  find  concrete  expression,  we  are  not  likely  to 
proclaim  them  in  a  way  that  will  give  any  worthy  im- 
pression of  their  practical  significance  in  the  daily  work 
of  the  world. 

To  the  proposed  changes  objections  will  no  doubt 
be  raised.  Among  these  objections  the  Christian  will 
have  to  discriminate  between  those  which  may  prove 
valid  and  those  whose  foundations,  as  a  Christian,  he 
cannot  admit.  If  criticism  springs  from  self-interest  and 
desire  to  maintain  a  private  advantage  at  the  expense 
of  the  general  good,  the  Christian  can  give  it  no  weight. 
He  is  committed  to  the  superior  principle  that  they  who 
are  strong  ought  to  bear  the  burdens  of  the  weak.  If 
objections  are  made  on  the  grounds  of  the  weakness  or 
the  unchangeability  of  human  nature,  he  will  at  least  have 
faith.  An  attitude  of  doubt  and  fear  is  the  negation  of 
faith  in  God  and  in  mankind.  If  an  objection  is  based 
on  a  differing  judgment  as  to  whether  the  proposed 
measure  will  in  actual  practice  operate  to  secure  the 
Christian  end,  it  must  be  given  careful  consideration.  We 
must  distinguish  clearly  between  changes  demanded  and 
the  particular  plan  by  which  that  change  can  most 
effectively  be  brought  about.  Practical  solutions  of 
technical  problems  must  be  left  to  experts.  But  there  are 
many  concrete  measures,  endorsed  by  a  growing  con- 
sensus of  students  of  social  science,  on  which  every 
Christian  should  be  informed  and  to  which  he  should 
bring  an  open  and  eager  mind,  because  of  his  desire  that 
there  shall  be  social  results  consistent  with  Christian 
ideals.  When,  therefore,  in  the  ensuing  pages  we  discuss 
specific  remedies,  they  are  put  forth  not  as  authoritative 
pronouncements  but  as  experiments  which  are  in  some 


134         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

degree  actually  being  made  and  which,  in  the  light  of  our 
present  knowledge,  seem  to  move  in  the  general  direction 
of  a  further  Christianizing  of  the  existing  social  order. 

In  the  following  discussion  we  have  no  thought  of  pre- 
senting anything  like  a  comprehensive  program  of  social 
reform.  All  that  we  aim  to  do  is  to  indicate  some  of  the 
practicable  steps  that  seem  to  look  in  the  direction  of  a 
more  Christian  social  life  and  that  need  the  intelligent 
support  of  Christian  men.  We  shall  consider  them  in 
the  light  of  our  preceding  analysis,  discussing,  first, 
measures  designed  to  protect  personality,  second,  steps 
toward  an  organization  of  industry  more  consistent  with 
brotherhood,  and,  third,  measures  looking  toward  such  a 
distribution  of  economic  power  as  will  more  fully  serve 
the  common  good. 

I.  Measures  Designed  to  Develop  and  Protect  Per- 
sonality 

a.  Providing  Security  against  Unemployment. 

The  Church  in  its  charitable  work  has  long  been 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  problem  of  unemployment, 
inasmuch  as  the  families  needing  its  help  are  generally 
those  whose  breadwinners  are  out  of  work.  Can  we 
touch  the  problem  in  no  deeper  way  than  by  simply  giving 
doles  to  the  victims  of  a  situation  which  the  Christian 
conscience  certainly  cannot  approve? 

The  first  thing  fundamentally  needed  is  the  clear-cut 
recognition  of  a  principle  not  yet  generally  accepted — 
that  the  worker,  by  virtue  of  the  contribution  of  his  labor 
and  skill  and  experience,  has  made  an  investment  in  the 
industry  and  is  entitled  to  protection  therein  as  truly 
as  the  employer  who  contributes  his  organizing  ability 
or  the  investor  who  contributes  his  capital.  To  recognize 
a  social  responsibility  for  affording  all  men  an  oppor- 
tunity for  livelihood  is  easier  in  the  light  of  our 
experience  in  the  war.    We  saw  then  that  every  man  has 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    135 

a  duty  to  serve  society.  But  if  this  be  so,  surely  society 
owes  him  the  right  to  live. 

From  this  principle  it  follows  that  there  is  a  moral 
obligation  resting  upon  employers  to  reduce  unemploy- 
ment to  the  lowest  possible  minimum.  Although  the 
dismissal  of  a  worker  may  be  for  such  excellent  reasons, 
from  the  point  of  view  of  the  employer,  as  shortage  of 
raw  material  or  curtailed  demand,  the  thought  of  the 
mechanical  operation  of  the  law  of  supply  and  demand 
in  the  labor  market  does  not  afford  any  alleviation  of 
the  worker's  sense  of  social  injustice  or  of  the  calamity 
to  himself  and  his  family.  The  causes  giving  rise  to 
unemployment  are  complicated  and  in  considerable  part 
beyond  the  individual  employer's  power  to  control.  There 
are,  however,  certain  things  which  the  employer  who 
recognizes  the  human  values  that  are  imperiled  by  unem- 
ployment may  do  that  will  go  far  toward  affording  a 
solution  of  the  problem. 

So  far  as  the  problem  of  unemplo^^-ment  arises  from 
conditions  within  his  own  plant,  the  employer's  personal 
responsibility  is  clear.  If  he  introduces  new  labor- 
saving  machinery,  he  should  feel  an  obligation  to  use 
every  effort  to  reduce  the  displacement  of  workers  to  a 
minimum.  By  readjustments  in  organization  he  may 
be  able  to  use  in  some  other  part  of  the  plant  the  labor 
displaced  in  another.  When  this  is  out  of  the  question, 
he  has  a  responsibility  to  do  whatever  is  possible  to  help 
the  displaced  workers  to  secure  employment  elsewhere.^ 
If  questions  of  discipline  arise,  dismissal  should  be  used 
only  as  a  last  resort  when  all  other  endeavors  have  failed. 


*The  British  Quaker  Employers  make  a  suggestion  worth 
noting:  "A  guarantee  to  absorb  displaced  workers  in  other  de- 
partments may  lead  to  a  temporary  surplus  of  labor,  but  in  most 
cases  this  condition  of  things  would  soon  be  rectified  by  the 
normal  and  inevitable  leakage  of  labor.  A  portion  of  any  extra 
profits  arising  from  labor-saving  improvements  might  be  placed 
in  a  special  reserve  fund  to  compensate  workers  who  cannot 
be  absorbed  or  placed  elsewhere."  See  The  Survey,  Nov.  23, 
1918. 


136         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  transferring  of  a  worker  to  another  foreman,  or  a 
more  tactful  attitude  on  the  part  of  the  present  foreman, 
has  often  been  found  to  adjust  difficulties  for  which 
workers  would  otherwise  have  been  discharged. 

When  unemployment  is  due  to  the  fact  that  the  occu- 
pation is  of  a  seasonal  character,  with  alternating  periods 
of  intense  activity  and  of  slackness,  or  to  the  fact  that 
only  casual  labor  is  needed,  the  problem  is  more  difficult. 
In  this  situation  the  employer  is  partly  at  the  mercy  of 
the  general  conditions  in  the  industry  as  a  whole.  By 
concerted  action,  however,  much  could  be  done  to  regu- 
larize conditions,  and,  by  deliberate  planning,  production 
could  be  kept  at  a  more  uniform  level  in  spite  of  fluctua- 
tions in  demand.2  To  substitute  regular  employment  for 
''hiring  by  the  day"  may  not  be  as  cheap,  but  in  most 
cases  it  is  not  impossible.  To  some  extent  it  may  be 
possible  to  dovetail  occupations  systematically,  so  that 
winter  loggers,  for  example,  can  find  summer  places  as 
harvest  hands.  Certainly  we  cannot  be  content  with  the 
existing  situation  till  far  more  serious  attention  has  been 
given  both  to  the  reorganization  of  seasonal  trades  and 
the  reduction  of  casual  labor  to  the  utmost  minimum. 

But  even  after  the  individual  employer  has  done  every- 
thing possible,  the  evil  of  unemployment  will  still  reach 
beyond  his  power  to  cure.  Employers  are  often  seeking 
for  workers  at  the  same  time  that  men  are  vainly  seeking 
for  work,  because  there  are  inadequate  facilities  for 
bringing  job  and  worker  together.  For  such  a  situation 
collective  action  is  necessary.  The  tremendous  need  for 
a  unified  country-wide  labor  exchange  becomes  clear. 


*Even  from  the  standpoint  of  economic  efficiency  alone  there 
is  every  reason  for  thorough-going  efforts  to  regularize  employ- 
ment. Every  employment  manager  knows  that  the  extent  of 
labor  "turn-over"  is  an  exceedingly  important  factor,  because  of 
the  loss  in  time  and  money  occasioned  by  the  "breaking  in"  of 
new  men.  It  has  also  been  shown  with  considerable  conclusive- 
ness that  in  seasonal  trades  the  fear  of  unemployment,  which 
naturally  inclines  men  to  make  the  work  last  as  long  as  possible, 
is  one  of  the  main  factors  tending  to  restriction  of  the  output. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  137 

Such  an  agency  was  established  to  meet  the  demands  of 
the  war,  under  the  name  of  the  United  States  Employ- 
ment Service,  bringing  nearly  800  employment  offices 
into  coordination  with  one  another.  But,  despite  the 
valuable  service  that  it  unquestionably  rendered,  and  de- 
spite the  insistent  need  for  its  continuance  during 
demobilization  and  after,  the  plan  had  to  be  practically 
abandoned  for  lack  of  financial  appropriations  for 
the  purpose.  Public  opinion  should  call  for  the  prompt 
reestablishment  of  such  a  bureau  and  for  its  organiza- 
tion in  such  a  way  as  to  secure  the  full  cooperation  both 
of  organized  employers  and  organized  workers  in  the 
various  industries. 

Yet  even  a  perfect  employment  bureau  cannot  provide 
work  when  there  is  no  work  to  be  had.  It  cannot  afford 
protection  against  long  continued  business  depression. 
Coupled  with  a  federal  employment  service  there  is,  there- 
fore, also  needed  a  governmental  policy  of  absorbing 
surplus  labor  in  a  program  of  public  works,  which  can  be 
carried  on  with  the  greatest  vigor  during  the  very  periods 
when  industrial  slackness  is  most  acute.^  Such  a  means 
of  affording  men  an  opportunity  for  self-maintenance 
would  have  far  better  effects  on  their  character  than 
charity,  and  would  at  the  same  time  result  in  carrying 
on  needed  public  work.  If  governments — federal,  state, 
and  local — were  also  to  adopt  a  regular  policy  of  placing 
their  orders  for  supplies  of  all  kinds' at  the  times  when 
orders  from  private  concerns  are  at  a  minimum,  a  further 
step  toward  a  consistent  policy  of  preventing  unemploy- 
ment would  be  taken.* 

If  we  do  not  succeed  in  providing  security  against 
unemployment,  we  must  at  least  provide  security  against 


•This  is  an  experiment  not  entirely  untried  in  this  country. 
In  the  industrial  depression  of  1914-1915  a  considerable  number 
of  American  cities  provided  emergency  work,  such  as  street- 
making,  water  works,  painting  public  buildings,  etc. 

*Cf.  the  Report  of  the  Archbishops'  Committee  on  "Christianity 
and  Industrial  Problems,"  pp.  82,  83. 


138         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

its  worst  consequences.  Since  enforced  unemployment  is 
the  fault  not  of  the  individual,  but  of  society,  we  have  no 
moral  right  to  compel  the  consequences  to  be  borne 
individually.  We  have  a  collective  responsibility  to  see 
that  none  suffer  from  our  failures.  We  have  no  question 
that  in  an  army  the  soldiers  who  are  essential  to  the 
nation's  welfare  have  a  right  to  support  even  when  there 
is  no  fighting  for  them  to  do.  Is  not  the  same  thing  true 
of  industry?  If  an  establishment  requires  the  services  of 
workers  while  it  is  busy,  is  it  unreasonable  that  it  should 
set  aside  out  of  its  profits  a  fund  toward  their  main- 
tenance when  it  is  slack?  In  the  present  legislation 
for  accident  insurance,  the  soundness  and  importance  of 
which  we  all  now  take  for  granted,  we  recognize  this 
principle  that  the  worker  who  has  been  necessary  to  an 
industry  has  a  right  to  support  if  his  opportunity  for 
earning  a  livelihood  is  taken  away.  The  extension  of 
such  a  program  of  insurance  to  cover  enforced  unem- 
ployment from  any  cause  is  a  measure  which  in  principle 
is  thoroughly  in  accord  with  the  Christian  sense  of  social 
responsibility.  Our  first  aim  is  to  enable  every  man  to 
bear  his  own  burdens,  but,  failing  that,  to  bear  one 
another's  burdens  is  only  a  fulfilling  of  the  law  of  Christ. 

b.  Providing  Income  for  All  Sufficient  for  Self-Realiza- 
tion. 

If  a  certain  amount  of  income  is  essential  to  the  higher 
life,  the  consideration  of  a  "living  wage"  cannot  be  con- 
fined within  the  limits  of  economic  argument.  In  the 
light  of  Jesus'  teaching  of  the  worth  of  human  person- 
ality we  see  the  problem  as  one  in  which  the  eternal  rights 
of  the  spirit  are  at  stake.  With  it  are  connected  questions 
of  education,  culture,  home  life,  even  moral  and  spiritual 
character.  Nor  can  the  content  of  the  term  "living  wage" 
be  defined  by  purely  physical  considerations.  Whatever 
it  may  connote  to  others,  to  the  Christian  it  cannot  mean 
merely  an  income  sufficient  for  the  maintenance  of  bodily 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  139 

life.  It  must  mean  the  making  possible  of  a  material 
environment  in  which  men  and  women  can  come  to 
their  full  growth  as  children  of  God.  The  living  wage 
upon  which  the  Church  should  insist  must,  therefore,  be 
sufficient  to  maintain  a  normal  family  in  reasonable  com- 
fort and  wholesome  surroundings,  must  make  it  pos- 
sible for  the  earnings  of  children  to  be  dispensed  with 
until  they  have  received  an  education,  must  leave  a  mar- 
gin for  recreation,  and  enable  the  family  to  protect 
itself  against  illness  or  old  age.  Without  such  an  income 
personality  cannot  come  to  full  self-realization  or  fill  its 
proper  place  in  the  social  order. 

The  language  on  this  point  of  the  British  Labor  Party's 
Report  on  Reconstruction  is  thoroughly  Christian  in  its 
general  view :  "The  first  principle,"  it  says,  **is  the  secur- 
ing to  every  member  of  the  community,  in  good  times  and 
bad  alike  (and  not  only  to  the  strong  and  able,  the  well- 
born or  the  fortunate),  of  all  the  requisites  of  healthy  life 
and  worthy  citizenship.  This  is  in  no  sense  a  *class'  pro- 
posal. Such  an  amount  of  social  protection  of  the  in- 
dividual, though  poor  and  lowly,  from  birth  to  death, 
is,  as  the  economist  now  knows,  as  indispensable  to  fruit- 
ful cooperation  as  it  is  to  successful  combination;  and  it 
affords  the  only  adequate  safeguard  against  that  insidious 
degradation  of  the  standard  of  life  which  is  the  worst 
economic  and  social  calamity  to  which  any  community 
can  be  subjected.  We  are  members  one  of  another.  No 
man  liveth  to  himself  alone.  If  any,  even  the  humblest, 
is  made  to  suffer,  the  whole  community  and  every  one  of 
us,  whether  or  not  we  recognize  the  fact,  is  thereby 
Injured."^ 

The  Church's  chief  concern  is  not  to  determine  the 
amount  of  a  living  wage,  but  to  insist  upon  the  principle 
that  the  payment  of  such  a  wage,  as  determined  by  social 
experts,  must  be  regarded  as  a  first  charge  against  the 

*See  reprint  of  the  Labor  Party's  Report  on  Reconstruction 
in  The  New  Republic,  Feb.  16,  '18. 


I40        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

industry,  a  condition  of  its  existence,  a  necessary  business 
liability.  Certainly  the  Apostle's  word  is  here  applicable : 
"The  husbandman  that  laboreth  must  be  the  first  to  par- 
take of  the  fruits."  Within  the  Church  there  should 
be  an  unmistakable  sentiment  that  it  is  unchristian  to 
accept  personal  profits  beyond  a  reasonable  salary,  or  to 
pay  larger  dividends  upon  borrowed  capital  than  is 
necessary  to  secure  an  adequate  supply,  as  long  as  any 
workers  upon  whom  the  industry  depends  are  not  re- 
ceiving a  full  living  wage.  The  assumption  that  a  living 
wage  can  be  secured  presupposes,  of  course,  the  fallacy 
of  the  so-called  "iron  law  of  wages,"  in  accordance  with 
which  labor  as  a  mere  commodity  is  bought  and  sold  at 
prices  inevitably  determined  by  supply  and  demand.  The 
point  of  view  of  this  report  assumes  what  experience  has 
now  clearly  confirmed,  that  wages  can  be  socially  regu- 
lated and  controlled.^ 

The  question  as  to  the  most  practicable  method  by 
which  a  living  wage  can  be  guaranteed  is  likewise  not  for 
such  a  report  as  this  to  answer.  We  deem  it  worth  while, 
however,  to  commend  to  careful  consideration  the  pro- 
posal recently  made  by  our  fellow-Christians  in  England 
in  the  Archbisbops'  Fifth  Committee  of  Inquiry.  They 
point  out  that  the  creation  of  "trade  boards,"  consisting 
of  representatives  of  employers,  of  the  employed,  and  of 
members  nominated  by  the  Ministry  of  Labor,  have  been 
advantageously  set  up,  "with  the  function  of  fixing  mini- 
mum rates  in  certain  industries,  which,  after  due  notice 
has  been  given,  have  the  force  of  law  and  the  payment 
of  which  is  enforced  by  officers  of  the  boards."  Such 
a  trade  board  is  operative  for  a  given  industry  over  the 
entire  country  and  so  "has  enabled  the  higher  standards 


*This  point  of  view  is  now  becoming  accepted  in  business  and 
economic  circles.  For  example,  a  report  of  the  Merchants  Asso- 
ciation of  New  York  on  Industrial  Unrest,  in  Nov.,  1919,  advo- 
cates "the  limitation  of  the  economic  law  of  supply  and  demand 
as  a  basis  of  labor  policy  by  the  utilization  of  a  more  humane 
doctrine." 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  141 

of  certain  districts  to  raise  the  lower  standards  of  others." 
The  Anglican  Committee'/urges  the  further  establishment 
of  such  trade  boards  in  all  industries  where  wages  are 
now  below  a  fair  living  level. "^ 

The  advantage  of  such  a  plan  over  the  minimum  wage 
fixed  by  ordinary  legislative  action  lies  both  in  the  fact 
that  it  is  the  result  of  an  agreement  arrived  at  jointly  by 
representatives  of  the  employer,  the  employed,  and  the 
general  public,  and  also  in  the  fact  that  it  makes  it 
possible  to  take  into  account  divergent  conditions  in  vari- 
ous industries.  The  advantage  of  the  plan  of  fixing  rates 
for  an  entire  industry  over  the  plan  of  bargaining  in  local 
plants  lies  in  the  fact  that,  according  to  the  latter  plan, 
the  socially  minded  employer  who  adopts  the  higher 
standard  may  be  handicapped  in  competition  with  those 
who  have  less  sense  of  social  responsibility.^ 

A  minimum  wage,  determined  by  human  rights  to 
decent  conditions  of  living,  is,  of  course,  in  no  sense  to  be 
regarded  as  a  standard  wage.  It  is  simply  a  level  below 
which  the  income  of  anyone  willing  and  able  to  work 
ought  not  to  be  allowed  to  fall.  The  distinction  made  by 
the  British  Quaker  Employers  is  one  that  needs  to  be 
borne  clearly  in  mind.  They  distinguish  between  a  mini- 
mum or  basic  wage,  determined  primarily  by  human 
needs,  and  a  secondary  wage,  determined  by  the  propor- 
tional degree  of  service  rendered  beyond  the  service  per- 


^"Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  pp.  "j^i,  yy. 

®For  the  text  of  the  legislation  establishing  trade  boards  in 
England  and  Australia  and  for  full  information  concerning 
minimum  wage  legislation  in  the  United  States  and  its  effects, 
see  the  compendious  volume  "Oregon  Minimum  Wage  Cases," 
Consumers'  League,  New  York.  In  the  United  States  the  move- 
ment is  concerned  mainly  with  a  minimum  wage  for  women  and 
minors.  The  general  procedure  here  has  been  the  creating  of  a 
State  Wage  Commission,  with  subordinate  wage  boards  for 
separate  trades.  Nine  states  and  the  District  of  Columbia  have 
adopted  the  general  substance  of  this  procedure  for  protecting 
women  workers,  the  Commission  having  authority  after  investi- 
gations to  promulgate  legal  rates.  In  two  other  states,  Massa- 
chusetts and  Nebraska,  the  decisions  of  the  Commission  are  only 
recommendatory. 


142         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

formed  by  those  receiving  only  the  basic  wage.  They 
hold  that  if  the  basic  wage  is  fixed  at  a  proper  level,  the 
scale  of  secondary  remuneration  may  be  safely  left  to 
bargaining.^ 

That  high  wages  and  high  cost  of  production  do  not 
necessarily  go  together  hardly  needs  to  be  pointed  out. 
In  the  first  place,  wages  are  only  one  of  several  factors 
that  enter  into  the  determination  of  cost  of  production.!^ 
The  organization  and  management  of  the  plant  and  the 
perfection  of  the  machinery  are  such  significant  factors 
that  increased  attention  to  them  may  more  than  compen- 
sate for  possible  financial  loss  through  higher  scales  of 
wages.  In  the  second  place,  adequate  wages  tend  to  in- 
crease physical  and  mental  efficiency  and  good  will  on  the 
part  of  the  workers  and  so  to  minister  to  increased 
quantity  and  quality  of  output.  Low  wages  mean  under- 
nourishment and  consequent  loss  of  vitality  and  produc- 
tiveness. The  Ford  Motor  Company,  in  which  high 
wages  and  large  profits  have  gone  hand  in  hand  for  many 
years,  is  a  striking  illustration  in  point.  So  also  is  the 
testimony  of  Mr.  E.  A.  Filene,  representing  a  large  de- 
partment store  in  Boston,  before  a  Congressional  Com- 
mittee on  the  Minimum  Wage  Bill  for  the  District  of 
Columbia  in  1918:  "We  have  found  that  there  was  an 
enormous  advantage  in  adopting  the  minimum  wage.  It 
is  not  a  question  of  philanthropy ;  it  is  a  question  of  good 
business."!! 

But  whether  or  not  a  living  wage  be  economically 
profitable  in  the  narrow  sense  of  the  term,  the  Christian 
must  regard  economy  and  efficiency  primarily  from 
the  standpoint  not  of  material  values  but  of  spiritual 
values.      He    cannot    allow    any    short-sighted    financial 

•See  The  Survey,  Nov.  23,  1918. 

^''For  full  discussion  of  the  relation  of  wages  to  cost  of  produc- 
tion see  "Oregon  Minimum  Wage  Cases,"  op.  cit.,  pp.  424-555. 
Cf.  also  the  analysis  presented  by  W.  J.  Lauck  to  the  Railway 
Labor  Board  in  1920  on  "The  Relation  between  Wages  and  the 
Increased  Cost  of  Living." 

''Quoted  in  a  bulletin  of  the  Consumers'  League,  1919. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  143 

interest  to  thwart  the  larger  conservation  of  human 
personality.^^  jje  will  insist  that  an  industry  which  has 
to  depend  for  its  existence  on  paying  wages  inadequate 
for  proper  living  is  parasitic  and  that  the  community  is 
better  off  without  it.  For  the  Christian  at  least,  the  test 
of  efficiency  is  not  simply  the  abundance  of  things  that 
are  produced  but  the  effect  upon  human  life. 

c.  Providing  Leisure  for  All  Sufficient  for  Self-Realisa- 
tion. 

If,  as  we  found  in  an  earlier  chapter,  a  certain  amount 
of  leisure  is  a  necessary  condition  of  the  best  living,  if 
to  a  large  extent  the  possibility  of  worthy  family  life, 
intelligent  citizenship,  and  even  spiritual  personality  is 
dependent  upon  it,  a  Christian  society  must  be  concerned 
to  provide  such  leisure  for  all  its  members. 

It  is  neither  practicable  nor  important  in  this  study 
to  attempt  to  say  how  many  hours  any  man  should  work. 
Probably  no  final  answer  can  be  given  to  this  question. 
But  it  is  tremendously  important  to  secure  everywhere  the 
hearty  acceptance  of  the  principle  that  all  production  is 
for  the  sake  of  human  welfare,  and  hence  that  working 
hours  should  be  determined  with  a  primary  concern  for 
the  personality  of  the  workers.  This  is  the  fundamental 
emphasis  of  this  report.  We  think  it  worth  while,  how- 
ever, to  call  attention  to  the  growing  practice  of  the  eight- 
hour  day  and  the  increasing  recognition  both  of  its 
economic  efficiency  and  its  social  values.  At  the  recent 
International  Labor  Conference  at  Washington  the  first 
article  adopted  in  its  code  was  a  recommendation  that 
"working  hours  of  persons  employed  in  any  industrial 
undertaking  shall  not  exceed  eight  in  the  day  and 
forty-eight   in  the  week.^^     Due  allowance  has   to  be 


^^The  words  of  Ruskin,  in  "Unto  This  Last,"  are  worth  recall- 
ing: "There  is  no  wealth  but  life.  .  .  .  The  persons  themselves 
are  the  wealth." 

"See  The  Survey,  Section  XL,  Dec.  20,  igig. 


144         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

made,  of  course,  for  differences  of  conditions  in  various 
industries,  but  we  believe  that  Christians  everywhere 
should  use  their  influence  to  secure  at  least  this  standard. 
This  is  suggested  not  in  any  sense  as  a  final  solution  of 
the  question  of  hours,  but  as  a  next  step  now  fully  prac- 
ticable for  securing  such  leisure  as  will  make  possible 
for  many  a  fuller  personal  development. 

In  this  connection  it  may  not  be  amiss  to  point  out  that 
reduction  of  hours,  within  certain  limits,  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  lessened  production.  It  has  been  abundantly 
shown  that  in  many  types  of  work  a  reduction  of  hours 
up  to  a  given  point  involves  no  corresponding  reduction 
in  productive  capacity.  On  the  contrary,  it  may  often 
mean  increased  output  because  of  increased  vitality, 
alertness,  and  efficiency  while  at  work.  Lord  Lever- 
hulme,  the  great  captain  of  English  industry,  is  even 
insisting  that  in  some  industries  a  working  day  of  only 
six  hours,  with  two  or  more  shifts  of  workers,  is  eco- 
nomically practicable,  quite  apart  from  the  social  values 
involved  in  such  a  reduction  of  hours.    He  says  in  part : 

"We  have  learned  much  during  the  last  three  years  on 
the  subject  of  fatigue,  over-work,  and  excessively  long 
working  hours.  We  have  proved  conclusively  that  pro- 
longed hours  of  toil,  with  resulting  excessive  fatigue, 
produce,  after  a  certain  point,  actually  smaller  results  in 
quantity,  quality,  and  value  than  can  be  produced  in 
fewer  hours  when  there  is  an  entire  absence  of  over- 
strain or  fatigue.  Fortunately,  however,  this  logical 
effect  of  over-long  hours  of  continued  work  does  not 
apply,  except  to  a  very  limited  extent,  to  the  case  of 
machinery  and  mechanical  utilities.  .  .  .  Therefore,  as 
we  shall  require  an  enormously  increased  output  of  goods 
to  replenish  stocks  that  have  been  allowed  to  run  down 
(during  the  war),  both  for  our  home  and  export  trade, 
and  as  we  have  the  machinery  available  which  hitherto 
in  most  industries  has  been  run  for  only  forty-eight  hours 
per  week,  a  solution  of  this  one  of  our  difficulties  can  be 
best  and  readily  found  by  working  our  machinery  for 
more  hours  and  our  men  and  women  for  fewer  liou^'^. 
We  must  have  a  six-hour  working  day   for  men  and 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    145 

women  and  by  means  of  six-hour  shifts  for  men  and 
women  we  must  work  our  machinery  twelve,  eighteen, 
or  twenty-four  hours  per  day.  .  .  .  We  can  get  into  a 
working  day  of  six  hours  all  the  work  we  are  capable  of 
when  that  work  is  monotonous — tending  machinery  and 
general  work  in  a  factory.  To  get  the  work  condensed 
into  six  hours  would  enable  us  to  produce  not  only  every- 
thing that  we  require,  but  to  produce  it  without  fa- 
tigue."i4 

Whether  or  not  one  agrees  with  Lord  Leverhulme  as 
to  the  present  feasibility  of  his  plan,  his  statement 
illustrates  a  growing  consensus  of  judgment  as  to  the 
need  of  a  considerable  shortening  of  the  prevalent  work- 
ing day  in  the  greater  part  of  our  industrial  life. 

The  many  experiments  in  the  efficiency  of  the  short 
working  day,  made  both  in  government  and  in  private 
industries,  practically  all  agree  in  establishing  the  in- 
efficiency of  long  working  hours.  During  the  earlier  part 
of  the  war,  under  the  stimulus  of  war  conditions,  the 
normal  standards  governing  hours  of  work  in  English 
munition  factories  were  abrogated,  eighty  to  ninety  hours 
of  work  per  week  being  not  at  all  uncommon.  Neverthe- 
less, there  was  a  continued  shortage  of  output,  and  this  in 
spite  of  the  patriotic  stimulus  to  production  occasioned 
by  the  war.  The  Ministry  of  Munitions,  therefore,  un- 
dertook an  investigation,  which  clearly  indicated  that  such 
hours  were  utterly  uneconomical.  In  experiments  ex- 
tending over  more  than  a  year  it  was  found  that  in  almost 
every  case  the  output  obtained  from  seventy  hours  of 
work  per  week  was  less  than  was  later  obtained  under 
much  shorter  hours.  For  labor  involving  heavy  hand 
work  the  maximum  output  was  secured  at  fifty-six  hours 
or  less  per  week.^^  The  United  States  Public  Health 
Service  has  recently  issued  (February,  1920)  the  results 

"Lord  Leverhulme,  "The  Six-Hour  Day."  London,  1919,  pp. 
16-18. 

^'^See  Bulletin  221  of  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  en- 
titled "Hours,  Fatigue,  and  Health  in  British  Munition  Factories," 
April,  1917. 


146         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  an  official  investigation  comparing  two  great  metal- 
working  plants,  one  working  on  an  eight  hour  and  the 
other  on  a  ten  hour  plan,  concluding  that  "the  eight 
hour  system  is  the  more  efficient,''  that  it  sustains  a  more 
"steady  maintenance  of  output,"  that  "lost  time  is  re- 
duced to  a  minimum,''  and  other  advantages  are  gained.^^ 

The  case  against  long  working  hours,  even  from  the 
economic  standpoint,  becomes  far  stronger  still  when 
comparisons  cover  longer  periods  of  time.  If  for  a  week 
or  a  month,  or  even  for  a  few  years,  a  twelve  or  a  ten- 
hour  day  should  result  in  greater  output,  the  final  weak- 
ening of  vitality  and  the  shortening  of  the  productive 
period  of  the  worker's  life  would  be  such  that  the  total 
net  result  would  inevitably  be  on  the  debit  side  of  the 
nation's  economic  ledger — to  say  nothing  of  the  vastly 
more  serious  consequences  in  terms  of  impoverished  per- 
sonalities and  the  undeveloped  potentialities  of  immortal 
souls.  If  we  are  to  hold  to  our  Christian  conviction 
of  the  primacy  of  human  values,  that  scale  of  hours  must 
finally  be  adopted  which  most  adequately  ministers  to 
fullness  and  richness  of  life  in  society  at  large. 

The  Church  has  also  an  obvious  concern  in  seeing  that 
men  and  women  are  not  robbed  of  their  heritage  of  a 
weekly  day  of  rest  by  the  greed  or  the  pressure  of  modern 
life.  It  is  perhaps  inevitable  that  some  industries  should 
require  continuous  operation,  but  the  Church  should  use 
all  its  influence  both  to  have  Sunday  work  reduced  to  a 
minimum,  and  to  guarantee  to  those  who  must  work  on 
Sunday  some  other  weekly  day  of  rest.  We  must  secure 
legislation  providing  that  wherever  continuous  operations 
are  carried  on,  the  number  of  workers  must  be  sufficiently 
increased  to  allow  the  release  of  all  some  one  day  in  the 
seven.  If  it  be  urged  that  to  do  this  would  in  some  cases 
require  an  increase  of  one-sixth  in  the  number  of  workers 
and  therefore  increased  expense,  we  must  insist  that  the 

''U.  S.  Public  Health  Service,  Bulletin  No.  io6,  p.  26,  Washing- 
ton, 1920. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    147 

protection  of  the  rights  of  the  spirit  of  man  is  superior 
to  the  protection  of  material  gain.^"^ 

A  word  of  caution  may  be  needed  in  the  matter  of  the 
Church's  defense  of  a  day  of  rest,  lest  we  seem  to  be  in- 
sistent upon  it  mainly  because  of  a  concern  for  the 
Sabbath  itself  as  an  institution,  rather  than  for  the  human 
beings  for  the  sake  of  whom  it  exists.  We  must  keep 
the  emphasis  where  our  Lord  laid  it — on  the  Sabbath 
not  for  its  own  sake,  but  for  the  sake  of  man.  This  will 
help  us  to  insist  more  effectively  that  the  Son  of  Man, 
not  mammon,  must  be  the  Lord  of  the  Sabbath. 

d.     Protecting  the  Personalities  of  the  Future. 
(i)   Safeguarding  Children  from  Exploitation. 

The  recently  enacted  federal  child  labor  law  marks  a 
distinct  advance  in  the  safeguarding  of  childhood  from 
economic  exploitation.  Yet  it  is  hardly  more  than  a 
first  step.  Reaching  only  certain  specified  industrial  con- 
cerns— amines,  quarries,  mills,  canneries,  workshops,  and 
factories — it  applies  to  but  a  relatively  small  proportion 
of  the  child  workers  of  the  country.  Its  age  standards — 
being  only  fourteen  for  other  occupations  than  mining 
and  quarrying — are  lower  than  we  can  consider  satisfac- 
tory, and  its  failure  to  require  an  educational  qualification 
for  children  entering  industry  is  a  further  serious  lack. 
Nothing  less  than  abolition  of  child  labor,  except  in  tasks 
of  definite  educational  value,  is  consistent  with  the  Chris- 
tian's concern  for  the  future  character  of  the  race. 

If  further  legislation  for  the  protection  of  childhood  is 
beyond  the  present  power  of  the  Federal  Government,  it 
must  be  brought  about  by  the  force  of  enlightened  public 
opinion  in  the  separate  states.  The  Christian's  conviction 
of  the  potential  value  of  every  life  should  make  him, 

^^Effective  rest-day  legislation  applying  to  workers  in  stores 
and  factories  is  now  in  force  in  N.  Y.  and  Mass.  See  Commons 
and  Andrews,  "Principles  of  Labor  Legislation,"  especially  pp. 
254,  255. 


148         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

more  than  any  other,  press  for  such  minimum  standards 
as  the  following,  recommended  by  the  Washington  and 
Regional  Conferences  on  Child  Welfare  in  1919:  that  a 
minimum  age  limit  of  sixteen  years  for  employment  in 
any  gainful  occupation  be  established,  with  the  exception 
that  children  between  fourteen  and  sixteen  may  be  em- 
ployed in  agriculture  and  domestic  service  during  the 
vacation  periods;  that  no  minors  be  employed  for  more 
than  eight  hours  a  day;  that  night  work  for  minors  be 
prohibited;  and  that  no  child  be  allowed  to  go  to  work 
until  he  ha6  had  a  physical  examination  to  determine  his 
fitness  for  the  task  at  which  he  is  to  be  employed.^^ 

Beneficial  as  the  existing  child  labor  legislation  has 
been  and  necessary  as  it  still  is,  we  must  realize  that  re- 
strictive legislation  cannot  be  enough.  It  can  set  a  needed 
barrier  against  one  cause  of  the  evil,  the  greed  of  the 
employer  who  would  employ  children  because  they  can 
be  hired  more  cheaply.  It  cannot  alleviate  the  other  main 
underlying  cause,  the  pressure  of  poverty  at  home  which 
sends  the  children  out  to  work  for  the  sake  of  the  main- 
tenance of  the  home.  Such  a  situation  "makes  the 
temptation  to  supplement  the  income  of  the  parent  by 
the  earnings,  however  small,  of  children  who  ought  to 
be,  at  school  almost  irresistible.  But  this  sacrifice  of 
children  to  the  necessities  of  their  parents,  this  accumu- 
lation upon  the  shoulders  of  the  rising  generation  of  the 
economic  burdens  of  the  present,  is  precisely  one  of  the 
features  in  our  social  life  against  which  Christians  ought 
unceasingly  to  protest.  They  must  break  the  vicious 
circle  which  binds  ignorance  to  poverty  and  poverty  to 
ignorance,  which  causes  the  educational  development  of 
one  generation  to  be  neglected  because  its  parents  were 
poor,  and  the  next  generation  to  be  poor  partly  because 
its  educational  development  has  been  neglected.*'!^     In 


^^See    "Minimum    Standards    for    Child    Labor,"    Government 
Printing  Office,  1919. 
""Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  p.  126. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    149 

addition  to  enacting  restrictive  legislation  against  child 
labor,  we  must,  therefore,  seek  constantly  to  secure  for 
all  adult  workers  such  income  as  to  make  the  toil  of  their 
children  for  wages  unnecessary. 

Along  with  needed  restrictions  and  constructive  effort 
to  secure  the  financial  independence  of  the  home  apart 
from  the  earnings  of  children,  needs  to  go  positive  legis- 
lation on  the  subject  of  education.  Only  six  states  now 
have  a  requirement  of  compulsory  education  extending 
through  the  eighth  grade;  fifteen  have  it  up  to  the 
age  of  sixteen  years.  It  is  estimated  by  the  United 
States  Department  of  Education  that  only  ten  per  cent 
of  our  boys  and  girls  finish  high  school.  And  the  child 
labor  which  robs  young  people  of  education  at  school 
is  itself  usually  of  a  non-educative  character.  Certainly 
Christians,  then,  whose  conception  of  the  worth  of  per- 
sonality attaches  greater  significance  to  education  than 
does  any  other  view  of  life,  ought  to  lend  the  most 
vigorous  support  to  securing  the  establishment  every- 
where of  the  proposal,  now  gaining  favor,  that  the 
minimum  age  for  leaving  school  shall  be  sixteen  and  that 
the  minimum  age  for  engaging  in  gainful  occupations 
shall  be  the  same.^^  The  new  English  provision  for  con- 
tinuation schools,  with  compulsory  part-time  attendance 
up  to  the  age  of  eighteen  for  those  who  have  left  school 
before  that  age,  is  one  that  merits  consideration  in  this 
country  also.  We  heartily  agree  with  the  Anglican  Com- 
mittee in  urging  that  such  continuation  schools  should 
occupy  not  less  than  half  the  working  week  in  all  occupa- 
tions except  those  which  are  directly  educational,  and 
that  these  hours  should  be  taken  out  of  the  actual  working 
week.2i 

(2)   Safeguarding  Women  in  Industry. 

The  old  situation  in  which  woman  entered  industry 


/^See  R.  G.  Fuller,  "Child  Labor— Now,"  Bulletin  of  the  Na- 
tional Child  Labor  Committee. 
"Cf.  "Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  p.  127. 


I50         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

under  haphazard  circumstances — family  crises,  strikes, 
wars,  scarcity  of  male  labor — Christians  must  seek  to 
displace  by  one  in  which  she  is  able  to  choose  a  permanent 
means  of  livelihood  to  which  she  is  by  nature  adapted 
and  in  which  she  can  find  her  best  self-expression.  She 
cannot  thus  choose  her  occupation  unless  she  shares 
equally  with  men  the  opportunities  which  shall  really  fit 
her  for  her  work.  More  and  more  as  specialization  in- ' 
creases  is  skill  required,  and  vocational  training  becomes 
an  imperative  need.  It  is  necessary  not  merely  for  the 
sake  of  industrial  efficiency,  but  for  the  sake  of  developed 
personality.  The  clumsy,  bungling  worker  not  only 
produces  an  inferior  product  but  also  feels  no  sense  of 
power,  no  joy  of  workmanship,  finds  no  self-realization 
in  her  work.  When  thousands  of  girls  are  going  into 
industry  every  year,  vocational  training  should  be  made 
available  for  them  as  freely  as  for  boys — which  is  not  yet 
the  case  to  any  great  extent. 

Women  in  industry,  as  we  found  in  an  earlier  chapter, 
are  now  laboring  under  serious  handicaps,  which  can  only 
be  removed  either  by  society  as  a  whole  through  pro- 
tective legislation  or  by  labor  through  collective  bargain- 
ing. Night  work  now  presents  such  a  menace  both  to 
health  and  character  that  it  should  be  entirely  prohibited, 
or  at  least  rigorously  safeguarded.  Both  for  the  sake 
of  woman  herself  and  for  the  future  well-being  of  the 
race  she  should  be  guaranteed  healthful  conditions 
of  work  in  every  respect.  More  important  is  it  in  the 
case  of  women  even  than  in  the  case  of  men  that  the 
working  day  should  be  sufficiently  short  to  prevent  ac- 
cumulated fatigue,  so  that  such  recreation,  house  work, 
and  education  as  they  engage  in  after  the  day's  work 
shall  not  be  at  the  expense  of  reserves  of  vitality. 

Equally  essential  is  it  that  woman's  wages  shall  be 
adequate  not  merely  to  keep  body  and  soul  together 
but  to  allow  a  margin  for  those  other  things  which  are 
necessary  to   self -development.     The  thirty-nine   states 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  151 

which  have  no  minimum  wage  laws  for  women  should 
be  induced  by  public  opinion  to  adopt  them.  Only  thus 
can  we  guarantee  even  that  minimum  of  social  protection 
which  is  demanded  both  by  the  Christian  estimate  of  the 
dignity  of  womanhood  and  the  Christian  concern  for  the 
future  of  mankind.  But  legislation  to  insure  a  level  of 
bare  subsistence  can  be  regarded  as  only  a  beginning  in 
setting  up  such  standards  as  will  conform  to  the  demands 
of  Christian  principles.  Women  should  receive  the  same 
pay  as  men  when  performing  equal  work — first,  as  a 
matter  of  justice,  and,  second,  because  it  is  only  on  this 
basis  that  there  can  be  mutually  satisfactory  relations 
between  men  and  women  in  industry.  It  is  a  matter  of 
justice  both  because  they  often  have  dependents  to  sup- 
port and  because  "for  the  production  of  commodities  and 
services  women  no  more  constitute  a  class  than  do  persons 
of  a  particular  creed  or  race."  It  is  necessary  to  amica- 
ble relationships  between  men  and  women  in  industry, 
because  the  lower  wage  now  paid  to  women  has  the 
effect  either  of  pushing  down  the  wages  of  men  or  of 
forcing  them  out  of  the  industry — in  either  case  creating 
a  spirit  of  antagonism.  Until  men  and  women  are  paid 
on  the  basis  of  the  job  and  not  on  the  basis  of  their  sex, 
there  can  hardly  be  either  real  equality  of  opportunity 
or  good  feeling  between  them. 

Women  in  industry  now  stand  in  special  need  of  leader- 
ship. As  a  group  they  are  still  largely  inarticulate.  They 
need  help  in  clarifying  and  formulating  their  own  thought 
and  purposes;  even  more,  in  interpreting  their  aims  to 
society.  The  development  of  leadership  should,  of  course, 
take  place  within  the  ranks  of  the  workers  themselves. 
Hence  the  women's  section  of  the  labor  movement  should 
be  encouraged  to  grow  side  by  side  with  the  men's.  But 
in  guiding  the  rising  movement  along  the  worthiest  lines, 
the  Churches  can  have  an  important  part.  They  have 
facilities  for  gatherings,  of  which  groups  of  women 
workers  would  often  gladly  avail  themselves.    They  may 


152         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

conduct  forums  for  women,  where  their  problems  can 
be  discussed  frankly  in  an  atmosphere  of  friendly  sym- 
pathy. One  of  the  great  handicaps  of  women  in  industry 
is  the  lack  of  understanding  and  cooperation  of  other 
groups  of  women  in  society.  If  women  of  all  kinds — 
industrial  women,  professional  women,  leisure  women, 
business  women,  and  homemakers — could  come  together 
under  Christian  auspices  to  face  their  problems  as  women, 
a  great  step  would  have  been  taken  toward  their  solution. 

In  this  chapter  we  have  thus  far  been  considering  va- 
rious measures  needed  for  the  protection  of  the  workers 
in  an  industrial  order  in  which  the  present  concentration 
of  economic  power  places  them  at  a  serious  disadvantage. 
So  long  as  this  remains,  there  is  a  clear  responsibility 
resting  on  society  to  safeguard  by  collective  action  the 
human  values  imperiled  in  the  money-making  process. 
But  much  more  than  protective  measures  are  needed. 
What  is  essential  is  such  a  democratic  distribution  of 
power  as  shall  make  it  difficult  for  the  few  to  exercise 
selfish  control  over  the  lives  of  the  many. 

2.  Securing  a  Democratic  Organization  of  Industry 
More  Consistent  with  Brotherhood 

The  ideal  of  democracy  we  have  long  accepted  in  the 
realm  of  political  government,  and  more  definitely  than 
ever  since  the  beginning  of  the  war.  But  the  Christian 
conceptions  of  the  value  of  every  personality  and  of 
brotherhood  as  the  true  relationship  in  life  need  expres- 
sion in  industry  just  as  effectively  as  in  government.  In 
applying  democracy  to  industrial  relations,  however,  we 
have  gone  but  a  short  way,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  it  is 
here  that  men's  destinies  are  most  immediately  con- 
cerned. So  the  struggle  of  the  workers  today  largely 
centers  around  the  securing  of  a  fuller  opportunity  to 
express  their  personalities  in  their  work  and  to  share  in 
determining  questions  of  common  concern.    In  the  words 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  153 

of  the  British  Quaker  Employers:  "The  worker  asks 
today  more  than  an  improvement  in  his  economic  position. 
He  claims  from  employers  and  managers  the  clear  recog- 
nition of  his  rights  as  a  person.  The  justice  of  this  claim 
our  religion  compels  us  to  admit.  .  .  .  The  position  in- 
volves .  .  .  the  frank  avowal  that  all  matters  affecting  the 
workers  should  be  decided  in  consultation  with  them, 
when  once  they  are  recognized  as  members  of  an  all- 
embracing  human  brotherhood."22 

A  first  step  in  the  direction  of  a  democratic  control  of 
industry  is  the  plan  of  "collective  bargaining."  Through 
the  organization  of  workmen  into  trade  unions  there  has 
come  about  a  method,  more  or  less  effective,  of  increas- 
ing their  economic  power  and  of  registering  their  will 
in  respect  to  the  conditions  and  rewards  of  labor.  Their 
means  of  enforcement,  usually  potential  rather  than 
actual,  is  a  decision  not  to  work  until  their  conditions  are 
met.  A  strike  is  simply  a  collective  refusal  of  an  em- 
ployer's terms.  Unless  there  is  union  organization  as 
a  means  of  safeguarding  the  workers'  interests,  they 
may  be  exploited  by  those  who  could  otherwise  auto- 
cratically control  the  industrial  situation.  For  workers 
to  be  unorganized  in  a  highly  organized  corporation, 
which  is  itself  a  union  of  capital,  means  that  they  are 
practically  impotent  to  better  their  conditions.  The  right 
of  the  workers  to  organize  and  bargain  collectively  is  at 
present  an  elementary  means  of  self-protection.23 

Of  course,  collective  bargaining  presents  democracy 
in  only  a  crude  form.  Its  final  appeal  is  to  force — organ- 
ized economic  force.  It  results  in  a  compromise  between 
what  workmen  demand  and  what  employers  can  be  pre- 
vailed upon,  under  the  threat  of  strike,  to  grant.  A 
secondary  appeal  to  public  opinion  is  always  involved. 


"See  The  Survey,  Nov.  23,  1918. 

*'The  point  of  view  here  developed  does  not,  of  course,  defend 
the  "closed  shop." 


154         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  frequently  this  is  the  determining  factor.  The  atti- 
tude of  the  public  as  registered  in  the  press  often  brings 
about  a  settlement  of  industrial  disputes  without  recourse 
to  a  strike,  and  a  strike  itself  is  likely  to  succeed  or  fail 
as  it  wins  public  sentiment  to  the  cause  of  the  workers 
or  alienates  it. 

Unless  the  community  will  guarantee  an  adequate 
standard  of  life  for  its  citizens,  we  cannot  refuse  any 
unprotected  group  the  opportunity  to  secure  it  for  itself. 
That  the  strike  is  open  to  serious  abuse  and  that  it  often 
involves.most  serious  consequences  to  the  public  we  have 
already  abundantly  shown.  It  ought,  therefore,  always  to 
be  regarded  as  distinctly  a  last  resort.  In  all  cases  con- 
ferences should  first  be  sought ;  in  many  cases,  arbitration. 
During  the  war  the  War  Labor  Board  afforded  a  federal 
tribunal  which  acquired  a  fine  reputation  for  just  and 
enlightened  decisions  in  industrial  disputes.  The  Presi- 
dent's Second  Industrial  Conference  has  recently  made  a 
notable  proposal  for  the  establishment  of  a  National 
Industrial  Board,  with  Regional  Adjustment  Confer- 
ences, made  up  of  equal  representatives  of  employers 
and  workers,  to  which  the  parties  to  a  dispute  may 
voluntarily  submit  their  differences,  with  the  under- 
standing that  if  there  is  a  unanimous  agreement  the 
decision  is  binding  and  that  if  such  a  decision  is  not 
reached  the  matter  goes  to  the  National  Board,  unless 
the  parties  prefer  the  decision  of  an  umpire  selected  by 
themselves.  If  either  party  declines  to  submit  the  dispute 
for  adjustment,  a  Regional  Board  of  Inquiry  is  formed, 
with  authority  "to  publish  its  findings  as  a  guide  to  public 
opinion."24  It  should  be  noted  particularly  that,  accord- 
ing to  the  proposed  plans,  the  submission  of  the  dispute 
to  the  Adjustment  Conference  is  not  compulsory.  Until 
we  have  a  system  of  thoroughly  cooperative  industrial 


*^The  report  deserves  study  in  detail.     It  is  reprinted  in  The 
Survey,  March  27,  1920. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  155 

management,  under  which  the  workers  attain  to  such  a 
share  of  control  that  their  interests  are  safeguarded,  and 
their  point  of  view  assured  equal  consideration,  the 
right  to  use  organized  economic  pressure  with  the  strike 
as  a  last  resort  cannot  fairly  be  denied.  When  that  time 
does  eventually  come  the  strike  can  be  eliminated. 

Of  late  much  controversy  has  developed  over  the  ques- 
tion of  collective  bargaining,  not  because  the  fundamental 
principle  of  association  of  workmen  for  joint  submission 
of  their  demands  can  be  frankly  opposed,  but  because 
an  effort  has  been  made  to  limit  the  right  of  collective 
bargaining  to  those  associated  in  a  single  industrial  es- 
tablishment. This  attempt  has  been  made  by  employers 
who  are  opposed  to  trade  unionism,  on  the  ground  that 
the  employer  should  not  be  answerable  to  groups  of 
labor  representatives  outside  his  own  plant.  The  business 
representative  of  the  union,  familiarly  known  as  the 
"walking  delegate,'*  has  long  been  an  unwelcome  factor 
from  the  employer's  point  of  view.  Doubtless  the  powers 
of  the  business  representative  have  often  been  abused  and 
employers  are  sometimes  subjected  to  unjust  treatment, 
by  having  to  deal  with  persons  who  are  without  intimate 
knowledge  of  affairs  within  the  plant  and  devoid  of  that 
sympathetic  interest  in  the  industry  which  can  obtain,  and 
frequently  does  obtain,  among  the  workers  immediately 
concerned.  On  the  other  hand,  the  right  of  the  workers 
to  appoint  whom  they  please  as  their  agent  would  seem  to 
be  as  incontestable  as  the  right  of  the  employer  to  select 
his  own  legal  adviser  in  his  own  way.  Moreover,  the 
necessity,  for  labor's  protection,  of  a  strong  inter-plant 
organization  which  gives  to  the  workers  in  any  one  estab- 
lishment the  support  of  those  outside  and  which  makes 
possible  the  application  of  the  best  leadership  that  can  be 
developed  in  an  entire  industry  to  every  group  of  workers 
in  that  industry,  is  not  open  to  question.  So  long 'as  the 
organization  of  capital  covers  not  a  single  plant  but  the 
industry,  or  even  a  group  of  industries  as  a  whole,  simple 


IS6         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

fairness  and  justice  ought  to  lead  to  a  recognition  of  the 
rights  of  labor  to  organize  similarly.^^ 

To  meet  this  situation  labor  leaders  are  now  defining 
the  right  of  collective  bargaining  as  the  right  to  be  rep- 
resented in  the  determination  of  wages,  hours,  and  con- 
ditions of  employment  by  representatives  of  their  own 
choosing.  They  mean  by  this  that  any  considerable  group 
of  workers  in  an  industry  shall  be  allowed,  if  they  so 
desire,  to  be  represented  in  bargaining  by  the  officials  in 
the  trade  union  to  which  they  belong.  This  right  is 
claimed  even  though  the  group  may  not  be  a  majority 
of  the  workers.  For  the  workers  in  an  establishment  as 
a  whole  do  not  always  in  reality,  although  they  may 
ideally,  constitute  an  industrial  unit.  There  are  groupings 
within  our  formal  industrial  organization  which  ap- 
proximate, by  themselves,  industrial  communities.  It 
sometimes  appears  that  the  foreign-speaking  workers,  for 
example,  as  a  result  of  a  certain  isolation  and  a  consequent 
feeling  of  being  exploited,  have  become  a  self-conscious 
working  unit.  Whatever  its  cause,  the  existence  of  any 
sub-group  in  an  industry  which  has  conscious  unity  is 
ground  for  recognition  of  such  a  group  and  of  its  chosen 
method  of  communication. 

But,  from  the  Christian  point  of  view,  collective  bar- 
gaining can  be  regarded  as  only  a  first  step  toward  secur- 
ing a  truly  democratic  management  of  industry.     Like 


^'^The  Report  of  the  President's  Second  Industrial  Conference 
explicitly  recognizes  this  principle :  "The  Conference  is  in  favor 
of  the  policy  of  collective  bargaining.  It  sees  in  a  frank  ac- 
ceptance of  this  principle  the  most  helpful  approach  to  industrial 
peace.  It  believes  that  the  great  body  of  the  employers  of  the 
country  accept  this  principle.  The  difference  of  opinion  appears 
in  regard  to  the  method  of  representation.  In  the  plan  proposed 
by  the  Conference  for  the  adjustment  of  disputes,  provision  is 
made  for  the  unrestricted  selection  of  representatives  by  em- 
ployes, and  at  the  same  time  provision  is  also  made  to  insure  that 
the  representatives  of  employes  in  fact  represent  the  majority  of 
the  employes,  in  order  that  they  may  be  able  to  bind  them  in  good 
faith."     (Italics  are  ours.) 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    157 

all  "bargaining"  it  generally  lacks  a  spirit  of  genuine 
cooperation  in  service.  Too  often  it  becomes  merely 
a  bitter  and  selfish  struggle  for  material  gain  or  the 
dictatorship  of  a  class — a  contest  in  which  even  slight 
traces  of  the  Christian  ideal  of  serving  the  good  of  the 
v^hole  community  are  exceedingly  hard  to  find.  For  the 
Christian,  democracy  in  industry  can  mean  nothing  less 
than  the  final  establishing  of  thoroughly  cooperative 
relationships  in  an  organization  of  production  in  which 
all  factors  seek  the  general  welfare.  To  make  this  ideal 
effective  there  are  required,  first,  a  unity  of  purpose  which 
can  truly  exist  only  when  the  first  concern  of  both  capital 
and  labor  is  public  service,  and,  second,  a  mechanism 
through  which  this  spirit  can  find  expression.  It  is  in 
the  light  of  this  ideal  that  we  shall  consider  various  ex- 
periments now  being  made  under  the  general  name  of 
"industrial  democracy." 

By  an  odd  circumstance,  some  of  those  employers 
who  have  given  an  impetus  to  new  forms  of  labor  or- 
ganization in  the  direction  of  democratic  expression  are 
among  those  who  oppose  the  basic  principle  of  trade- 
union  bargaining  which  we  have  described  above  as 
fundamental.  "Employes'  representation"  has  been  used 
to  designate  plans  of  government  in  an  industry  whose 
policy  has  been  consistently  anti-union.  It  cannot  be 
maintained  that  there  is  no  democratic  virtue  at  all  in 
such  plans.  Much  depends  on  the  personnel  of  the  in- 
dustry, both  in  the  management  and  the  labor  force.  But 
in  the  present  crucial  industrial  situation  an  employer's 
attitude  toward  trade-union  bargaining  is  pretty  much  of 
an  acid  test.  The  indifference  or  even  opposition  some- 
times manifested  by  the  workers  to  schemes  of  demo- 
cratic management  generally  arises  from  a  suspicion  that 
they  are  really  intended  to  be  an  offset  to  effective  union 
organization.  A  certain  manufacturing  concern  which 
had  widely  advertised  its  democratic  plan  of  management 
recently  found  itself  with  a  strike  on  its  hands,  one  of 


158         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  avowed  objects  of  which  was  to  get  rid  of  this  plan 
of  so-called  "industrial  democracy" ! 

The  importance  of  building  a  program  of  industrial 
democracy  upon  trade  unions,  where  such  exist,  is  in- 
dicated by  the  history  of  the  "works  councils'*  move- 
ment in  England.  When  the  now  famous  Whitley  Coun- 
cils were  recommended  to  the  British  Government  as  the 
basis  of  a  labor  policy  it  was  stipulated  that  they  should 
supplement,  not  displace,  trade-union  organization  and 
procedure.  A  supplementary  report  submitted  by  the 
Whitley  Committee  says: 

"We  think  it  important  to  state  that  the  success  of  the 
works  committees  would  be  very  seriously  interfered  with 
if  the  idea  existed  that  such  committees  were  used  by 
employers  in  opposition  to  trade  unionism.  It  is  strongly 
felt  that  the  setting  up  of  works  committees  without  the 
cooperation  of  the  trade-unions  and  employers'  associa- 
tions in  the  trade  or  branch  of  trade  concerned  would 
stand  in  the  way  of  the  improved  industrial  relationships 
which  in  these  reports  we  are  endeavoring  to  further." 

The  background  of  the  democratic  movement  in  in- 
dustry in  England  is  very  different  from  that  in  America. 
There  trade  boards  have  been  in  operation  for  ten  years, 
fixing  minimum  wages  and  always  recognizing  union 
machinery.  It  was  but  natural  that  the  Whitley  Com- 
mittee should  recommend  that  industrial  councils  be  set 
up  first  in  industries  where  both  employes  and  employers 
are  well  organized.  The  English  plan  for  works  councils 
is  broad,  comprehensive,  statesmanlike.  The  attempt  to 
copy  it  on  the  part  of  isolated  employers  in  America, 
however  well-intentioned,  has  too  often  been  an  ill- 
conceived  makeshift.  Some  have  seized  upon  it  quite 
without  reference  to  its  chief  feature  in  England — 
national  and  district  councils  representing  the  entire  in- 
dustry within  the  area  involved.  That  labor  will  resist 
any  effort  to  find  in  the  works  council  plan  a  substitute 
for  trade  unions  or  a  weapon  with  which  to  fight  them 
is  naturally  to  be  expected. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    159 

But  the  movement  for  works  councils  has  gained  much 
of  its  support  from  the  inadequacy  of  traditional  trade- 
union  procedure  for  democratic  industrial  management. 
The  revolt  of  the  engineering  shop  stewards  in  England 
during  the  war,  the  disruption  of  the  longshoremen  and 
of  the  printers  in  New  York  in  1919,  and  the  outbreak 
of  "unauthorized"  strikes  here  and  there,  are  illustrations 
of  the  need  of  machinery  for  communication  and  dis- 
cussion of  grievances  which  the  great  unions,  with  their 
stereoypted  procedure,  have  often  failed  to  secure.  A 
democratic  system  of  government  must  find  some  way  of 
getting  down  to  the  individual.  It  is  undoubtedly  true 
that  many  an  employer  enjoys  the  confidence  of  his 
employes  and  maintains  their  cooperative  good  will  to  a 
degree  that  union  officials  covet.  Indeed,  if  the  average 
employer  had  the  vision  and  the  motive  to  work  out  these 
problems  from  within,  there  would  hardly  be  enough 
union  members  paying  dues  to  constitute  a  factor  in 
industry. 

The  movement  toward  a  more  democratic  management 
of  industry  is  so  significant  that  it  is  worth  our  while  to 
consider  some  of  the  concrete  plans  that  are  now  being 
tried  in  this  country.  In  general,  there  are  four  types  of 
industrial  organization  looking  in  this  direction. 

I.  The  first  is  the  non-union  plant  which  is  in  the 
control  of  employers  of  broad  sympathy  and  social  vision, 
who  have  not  opposed  unionization  but  whose  employes 
are  too  well  satisfied  to  unionize  themselves. ^^  This 
presents  certain  fundamental  elements — a  mutually 
friendly  attitude,  ready  access  on  the  part  of  any  em- 
ploye to  the  management,  a  free  statement  of  opinion,  a 
welcome  for  such  contribution^as  the  employe  may  make 
to  the  management  of  the  industry,  and  positive  assurance 
that  no  prejudice  will  be  incurred  by  organization  ac- 
tivity.   The  difficulty  with  this  type  of  personal  manage- 

*'The  Endicott-Johnson  Corporation,  manufacturers  of  shoes, 
might  be  mentioned  as  an  illustration  of  this  type. 


i6o        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

ment  is  that  it  is  possible  only  where  the  industry  is  in 
charge  of  men  of  extraordinary  vision  and  sympathies, 
and,  furthermore,  that  it  lacks  the  necessary  provision  for 
enabling  the  workers  to  develop  a  corporate  sense  of  their 
own  responsibility. 

2.  The  "company  union"  in  its  best  and  rarest  form, 
in  which  the  employes  have  no  affiliation  with  trade 
unions  but  in  which  no  opposition  is  offered  to  such 
affiliation  on  the  part  of  the  management,  is,  in  general, 
a  step  in  advance  of  the  type  of  industrial  organization 
referred  to  above,  since  there  is  a  definite  organization 
of  the  labor  force  engaged  in  consciously  promoting  its 
own  welfarc^"^  A  company  union  which  is  free  to  act, 
and  which  is  not  being  exploited  by  the  management  in 
self-defense  against  trade-union  affiliations,  has  in  it  the 
germs  of  democratic  development.  The  tendency  in 
such  organization  will  generally  be  toward  the  institution 
of  machinery  for  joint  handling  of  industrial  problems. 

3.  The  works  council  plan,  which  provides  for  the  dis- 
cussion of  all  questions  that  arise  between  the  workers 
and  management  by  joint  committees  having  equal  rep- 
resentation of  labor  and  management,  is  a  significant 
movement  in  the  democratization  of  industry.  Some 
of  the  notable  experiments  of  this  sort  now  in  progress  in 
America  have  been  undertaken  in  the  light  of  the  recom- 
mendations of  the  Whitley  Committee  in  England.  A 
number  were  established  by  order  of  the  War  Labor 
Board  which,  in  the  course  of  its  work,  gave  great 
stimulus  to  the  development  of  the  works  council  idea. 
The  plan  is  particularly  significant  as  a  step  toward  the 
creation  of  an  "industrial  constitution''  by  which  the  re- 
spective rights  and  duties  of  the  workers  and  the  em- 
ployer in  any  situation  are  defined.  But  where  it  does 
not  recognize  the  trade-union  principle,  it  is  fundament- 
ally defective.     Certainly  no  plan  is  likely  to  succeed 

*^The  Dennison  Manufacturing  Company  of  Framingham, 
Mass.,  is  an  example  of  this  kind  of  organization. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    i6i 

which  opposes  the  right  of  the  workers  to  organize  in 
ways  of  their  own  choosing. 

The  following  outline  of  the  plan  as  operative  in  a 
large  concern  indicates  the  scheme  of  organization  that 
is  fairly  typical.^s  Representatives  of  the  employes  sit 
in  joint  conference  with  representatives  of  the  manage- 
ment, designated  by  the  president.  Standing  joint  com- 
mittees deal  with  such  problems  as  industrial  cooperation 
and  conciliation,  safety  and  accidents,  sanitation,  health 
and  housing,  recreation  and  education.  The  committee 
on  industrial  cooperation  and  conciliation  has  authority  to 
bring  up  for  discussion  at  the  joint  conference,  or  have 
referred  to  it  for  consideration  and  report  to  the  presi- 
dent, any  matter  concerning  the  prevention  and  settle- 
ment of  industrial  disputes,  or  terms  and  conditions  of 
employment.  Its  recommendations  are  not  in  any  way 
binding,  except  when,  in  case  of  a  failure  to  reach  a 
majority  decision,  it  selects  a  third  person  to  sit  in  con- 
ference with  the  committee  as  an  umpire.  In  the  case  of 
failure  to  agree  upon  an  umpire,  the  matter  can  be 
referred  to  arbitration  or,  if  that  is  not  desired,  it 
becomes  the  subject  of  investigation  by  the  state  in- 
dustrial commission.  In  order  to  protect  the  employes 
in  the  exercising  of  these  various  privileges,  a  guarantee 
is  given  them  against  discrimination  for  any  cause,  the 
final  decision  resting  with  the  state  industrial  commission. 

In  a  few  cases  the  experiment  of  cooperation  has  been 
carried  to  an  even  further  stage.  In  a  mill  with  500 
employes  a  board  of  management  has  been  organized 
made  up  of  equal  representatives  of  the  company  and  the 
operatives,  with  definite  power  "to  settle  and  adjust  such 
matters  of  mill  management  as  may  arise,"  including 
wages  and  hours.  In  case  of  a  deadlock  in  the  board  of 
management  it  is  empowered  to  select  a  seventh  arbitrat- 
ing member  whose  deciding  vote  shall  be  final.     The 

"The  plan  outlined  in  this  paragraph  is,  in  general,  that  of  the 
Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron  Company. 


i62         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

board  of  directors  has  been  reorganized,  with  three  mem- 
bers representing  capital  and  management,  one  elected 
by  the  operatives,  and  one  representing  the  local  com- 
munity.29 

4.  An  advanced  type  of  democracy  is  represented  in 
industries  organized  in  accordance  with  a  trade  agree- 
ment concluded  between  the  employers  and  the  labor 
union  involved.  The  preamble  of  such  an  agreement 
now  operative  in  a  large  garment  factory^^  states  that  it 
contemplates,  on  the  part  of  the  employer,  the  expectation 
that  the  compact  will  result  in  the  establishment  of  disci- 
pline and  of  cooperation  and  good  will  throughout  the 
industry;  on  the  part  of  the  union  that  the  compact  will 
operate  in  such  a  way  as  to  strengthen  and  solidify  its 
organization;  on  the  part  of  the  workers,  "that  they  pass 
from  the  status  of  wage  servants,  with  no  claim  on  the 
employer  save  his  economic  need,  to  that  of  self-respect- 
ing parties  to  an  agreement  which  they  have  had  an  equal 
part  with  him  in  making/' 

The  trade  agreement  not  only  stipulates  the  terms  of 
employment,  thus  putting  them  beyond  controversy  for 
a  period  of  years,  but  creates  machinery  for  the  adjust- 
ment of  all  disputes.  There  is  a  trade  board,  half  of 
whose  members  are  chosen  by  the  union  and  half  by  the 
company,  with  a  chairman  selected  from  outside  the 
industry.  Meetings  of ^  the  board  are  held  whenever  nec- 
essary. Provision  is  made  for  deputies  representing  both 
the  management  and  the  union,  who  have  power  to 
investigate,  mediate,  and  adjust  complaints  and  thus  take 
a  great  deal  of  the  detailed  work  off  the  trade  board 
itself.    The  union  deputies  have  access  to  any  shop  of  the 

^*The  plant  referred  to  is  the  Dutchess  Bleachery  at  Wap- 
pingers  Falls,  N.  Y.  Its  profit-sharing  plan  is  described  in  the 
following  section.  For  fuller  description  see  article  by  Ray 
Stannard  Baker  in  the  New  York  Evening  Post  for  Feb.  6,  1920. 

**The  agreement  here  described  is  that  of  the  Hart,  Schaffner, 
and  Marx  Company  of  Chicago,  in  which  a  history  of  disastrous 
labor  disputes  has  been  succeeded  by  industrial  peace  through  the 
working  of  the  agreement. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    163 

factory  for  the  purpose  of  investigation.  In  such  under- 
takings they  are  always  accompanied  by  a  representative 
of  the  employer,  unless  the  latter  waives  this  right.  The 
union  has  a  representative  in  each  shop,  who  has  power 
to  receive  complaints  and  to  make  proper  inquiries.  A 
board  of  arbitration,  consisting  of  three  members,  one 
chosen  by  the  union,  one  by  the  company,  and  the  third 
an  impartial  chairman,  passes  on  questions  of  principle 
and  the  application  of  the  agreement  to  new  issues,  after 
the  questions  of  fact  have  been  determined  by  the  trade 
board.31 

From  the  foregoing  discussion  it  is  clear  that  honest 
efforts  are  being  made  in  many  quarters  to  secure  a  more 
democratic  organization  of  industry  and  to  treat  labor 
not  as  an  item  of  cost  but,  in  some  measure  at  least,  as 
a  partner  in  production.  As  the  workers,  through  par- 
ticipation in  the  control  of  conditions  under  which  they 
work,  increasingly  acquire  capacity  for  the  assumption  of 
larger  responsibilities,  they  will  no  doubt  eventually 
have  a  share  also  in  the  administration  of  the  processes 
of  production  and  distribution.  The  assumption  of  such 
responsibility  is  obviously  possible  only  after  a  process 
of  patient  education  in  industrial  management,  as  a  result 
of  which  the  workers  gradually  acquire  ability  and  effi- 
ciency in  these  lines.^^    Yet  we  cannot  set  any  arbitrary 


'The  department  store  of  William  Filene  and  Sons  in  Boston 
is  carrying  out  a  noteworthy  plan,  which,  since  it  applies  to  a 
commercial  firm  rather  than  an  industry,  does  not  fall  under 
any  of  the  heads  enumerated  above.  The  members  of  the  Filene 
Cooperative  Association,  to  which  all  employes  belong,  may  by 
a  two-thirds  vote  "change,  initiate,  or  amend  any  rule  that  affects 
the  discipline  or  working  conditions  of  the  employes  of  the 
store."  The  elected  governing  body,  known  as  the  Council,  may 
by  a  five-sixths  vote  change  the  rules  prevailing  in  the  store. 
If  the  manager  should  veto  such  a  vote,  it  may  be  passed  over  his 
veto  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  entire  membership  present.  Mr. 
Filene  says  that  it  is  the  definite  purpose  of  the  management 
to  have  the  employes  control  the  business. 

"In  the  light  of  the  imperative  need  for  education  if  the  work- 
ers are  to  assume  larger  responsibilities,  the  significance  of  the 
recent  opening  of  a  Trade  Union  College  in  Boston  and  of  such 


i64         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

limit  to  the  degree  of  responsibility  that  they  may  reach. 
This  does  not  mean  that  leadership  will  be  dispensed 
with;  it  simply  means  that,  in  industrial  as  in  political 
democracy,  leadership  will  be  constitutional  instead  of 
autocratic.  As  to  the  particular  form  of  organization 
in  which  the  rising  spirit  of  democracy  will  find  the  best 
expression,  it  is  not  our  province  to  attempt  a  prediction, 
even  if  such  an  attempt  were  now  possible.  Our  primary 
concern  is  that  there  shall  be  a  spirit  which  will  prompt 
the  creation  of  the  needed  machinery.  There  must  be, 
in  the  words  of  the  British  Quaker  Employers,  "a  living 
desire  on  the  part  of  employers  to  give  full  expression  to 
their  fundamental  religious  beliefs  in  the  relations  they 
establish  with  their  workers." 

A  democratic  organization  of  industry  would  not  only 
minister  to  human  values — which  constitute  the  direct 
concern  of  this  report — ^but  ought  also  ultimately  to 
secure  greater  efficiency  in  production.  The  present  sys- 
tem of  autocratic  and  mechanicalized  production,  as  we 
have  already  suggested,  hampers  the  expression  of  crea- 
tive impulse  and  initiative  on  the  part  of  thjs  workers. 
So  long  as  they  have  no  connection  with  their  work  except 
a  pay  envelope  we  cannot  expect  them  to  find  joy  or  self- 
expression  in  it,  to  take  pride  in  their  achievements,  or 
to  do  their  best.  Apathy  and  indifference  on  their  part 
can  be  dispelled  only  by  affording  them  a  basis  for 
genuine  interest. ^^    This  a  democratic  control  of  industry 


undertakings  as  that  of  the  United  Labor  Education  Committee 
of  the  Amalgamated  Clothing  Workers  can  hardly  be  over- 
emphasized. The  development  of  the  Workers'  Educational 
Association  in  England  has  already  had  notable  results. 

®'Cf.  the  statement  of  George  Cadbury,  Jr.,  an  English  em» 
ployer,  in  "Quakerism  and  Industry,"  p.  "jd'.  "Get  the  idea  into 
men's  minds  that  you  are  jointly  doing  some  service  and  they 
will  respond.  If  they  once  understand  that  a  business  is  not 
run  solely  for  the  benefit  of  and  at  the  caprice  of  the  employer, 
much  suspicion  and  unrest  will  be  removed."  It  is  the  failure 
to  appreciate  this  psychological  factor  which  is  the  conspicuous 
lack  in  much  so-called  "scientific  management."    It  too  often  as- 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  165 

ought  to  do,  since  it  would  call  into  play  creative  energies 
and  initiative  to  an  extent  impossible  under  a  system  in 
which  the  whole  responsibility  falls  upon  other  shoulders 
than  the  workers'.  As  in  the  management  of  the  state, 
so  also  in  the  management  of  industry  autocracy  secures 
a  kind  of  quick  efficiency,  but  all  good  Americans  believe 
that  in  the  long  run  democracy  will  prove  still  more  effi- 
cient, because  of  the  more  developed  personalities  that  it 
creates. 

If  some  one  still  insists  that  industrial  democracy  is 
Utopian,  we  must  ask.  What  other  solution  of  the  in- 
dustrial problem  can  be  found?  A  dictatorship  of  either 
capital  or  labor  cannot  be  accepted  as  either  Christian  or 
as  socially  efficient.  We  must,  then,  move  in  the  direc- 
tion of  democracy.  No  other  real  solution  is  discernible 
except  the  Christian  solution.  And  as  Christians  it  is  our 
faith  that  what  Christian  principles  demand  will  finally 
prove  to  be  the  only  true  economy.  In  this  we  are  con- 
firmed in  an  increasing  degree  by  such  testimony  as  was 
recently  given  by  one  of  the  outstanding  industrial  engi- 
neers of  this  country,  when  he  said  that  industrial  democ- 
racy "conforms  absolutely  to  the  teachings  of  all  the 
churches,  for  Christ,  who  was  the  first  to  understand  the 
commanding  power  of  service,  thus  stands  revealed  as  the 
first  great  Economist."^* 

In  addition  to  cooperation  in  production,  genuine  in- 
dustrial democracy  would  require  a  democratic  disposi- 
tion of  the  joint  product.  We  are  led  on,  therefore,  by 
our  discussion  of  industrial  management  in  the  light  of 
the  principle  of  brotherhood  to  consider  how  the  profits 
of  industry  should  be  distributed. 


sumes  that  the  worker  can  be  treated  like  a  machine,  "a  will-less 
subject  for  stop-watch  experimentation."  The  trouble  with  such 
scientific  management,  it  has  been  well  said,  is  that  it  is  not 
scientific  enough,  failing  to  see  how  largely  "efficiency  depends 
on  cooperation   and  cooperation   on   common   interest." 

**H.  L.  Gantt,  "Organizing  for  Work,"  New  York,  N.  Y.,  1919, 
p.  108. 


i66         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

3.  Securing  a  Distribution  of  Profits  More  Consist- 
ent WITH  the  Principle  of  Service 

The  present  assumption  that  after  labor  has  been  paid 
the  market  rate  of  wages,  as  determined  by  the  compe- 
tition in  the  labor  market,  all  the  value  of  the  product 
belongs  to  capital  alone  we  have  found  to  be  inconsistent 
with  the  conception  of  the  goal  of  industry  as  serving 
the  common  good.  Any  serious  attempt  to  apply  the 
principle  of  service  must  mean  that  the  income  from 
the  joint  product  is  to  be  apportioned,  not  on  a  basis 
of  what  either  party  has  the  economic  strength  to  get, 
but  on  a  basis  of  what  each  has  contributed  to  society. 

An  experiment  in  the  direction  of  a  more  democratic 
distribution  of  the  gains  of  industry  is  found  in  the 
present  movement  toward^profit  sharing.  So  far  as  this 
is  an  honest  recognition  of  the  right  of  the  workers  to 
participate  in  the  joint  product,  it  is  a  step  toward  a  more 
brotherly  use  of  economic  power.  It  is  no  doubt  true 
that  many  schemes  ordinarily  labeled  as  "profit  sharing'- 
show  little  or  no  trace  of  the  democratic  impulse.  A  pro- 
gram springing  merely  out  of  a  desire  to  conciliate  the 
workers  or  to  discourage  effective  organization  has  no 
right  to  claim  the  title  democratic.  Still  less  has  a  system 
of  bonuses  designed  only  as  a  substitute  for  good  wages. 
It  is  not  surprising  that  scores  of  such  so-called  profit- 
sharing  plans  have  been  dismal  failures.  The  workers 
have  seen  them  as  at  bottom  only  a  scheme  to  increase  the 
profits  of  capital.  But  an  honest  sharing  of  prosperity, 
on  the  ground  that  those  who  make  profits  possible  ought 
justly  to  participate  in  them,  is  an  important  part  of  any 
movement  toward  a  genuine  industrial  democracy. 

The  particular  plan  by  which  a  division  of  profits  shall 
be  effected  is  one  for  which  we  do  not  presume  to  give  a 
formula.  It  is  a  practical  problem  for  those  actually 
engaged  in  the  administration  of  industry.  An  experi- 
ment now  under  operation  in  at  least  one  plant  may,  how- 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS  167 

^ver,  be  referred  to  by  way  of  illustration  of  what 
is  possible.^^  The  management  and  the  operatives  of  this 
concern  have  adopted  an  agreement,  as  a  part  of  its 
program  of  democratic  organization,  in  accordance  with 
which  the  net  profits  (after  all  expenses  are  paid,  in- 
cluding wages  and  six  per  cent  on  capital)  are  divided 
half  and  half  between  stockholders  and  operatives.  The 
contingency  of  losses  has  been  met  by  establishing  two 
sinking  funds,  to  be  built  up  out  of  profits  until  each 
reaches  $250,000 — one  to  pay  part  wages  if  the  mill 
should  be  forced  temporarily  to  close  down,  the  other  to 
maintain  interest  on  invested  capital.  In  this  way  there 
is  a  provision  for  a  real  sharing  of  losses  as  well  as  of 
prosperity. 

The  increase  of  cooperative  good  will,  resulting  from 
an  honest  effort  to  distribute  the  profits  of  industry  ac- 
cording to  some  standard  of  social  justice,  may  well 
prove  to  secure  that  increased  production  which  is  so 
great  a  present  need.  For,  as  has  been  already  suggested, 
a  sense  of  injustice  on  the  part  of  the  workers  is  one 
of  the  greatest  hindrances  to  maximum  productivity.  So 
Lord  Leverhulme,  in  insisting  that  his  now  well-known 
plan  of  "copartnership"  is  a  practicable  thing,  describes 
it  "not  as  a  coddling  scheme  for  the  distribution  of  doles 
and  benevolence  but  a  business  system  under  which  the 
industries  of  this  country  can  be  better  run  than  under 
any  other  system."^^  Much  more  significant  was  the 
memorandum  addressed  by  a  group  of  distinguished  in- 
dustrial engineers  last  fall  to  the  President's  First  In- 
dustrial Conference,  pointing  out  that  no  final  solution 
of  the  prevalent  unrest  can  be  found  until  industry  is 
so  organized  as  to  remove  the  sense  of  injustice  now 
arising  from  the  special  privileges  that  allow  a  few  to 
acquire  wealth  out  of  all  proportion  to  service  rendered 


'''The  reference  is  to  the  Dutchess  Bleachery,  at  Wappingers 
Falls,  New  York. 
''See  his  "Six  Hour  Day." 


i68         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

and,  after  arbitrarily  deciding  the  amount  that  employes 
shall  receive,  to  appropriate  all  the  surplus  profit-^"^  A 
striking  indication  of  the  possible  effect  of  a  genuine 
sharing  of  profits  appeared  recently  in  an  editorial  in  a 
paper  published  by  the  board  of  operatives  in  a  plant 
where  a  program  of  cooperative  management  had  been 
in  progress  for  a  few  months : 

"P.  T.  Barnum,  the  circus  man,  once  exhibited  a  freak 
called  the  Siamese  Twins.  They  were  two  human  beings 
joined  together  at  the  waist  in  such  a  way  that  what  was 
bad  for  one  was  bad  for  the  other  and  what  was  good 
for  one  was  good  for  the  other.  Now  our  partnership 
plan  brings  about  a  somewhat  similar  condition.  If  we 
waste  time  or  material  for  the  company,  we  are  robbing 
ourselves;  if  we  give  our  best  efforts  and  most  loyal 
service  to  the  company,  we  are  also  helping  ourselves. 
We  are  bound  together  now  in  a  way  that  makes  it  im- 
possible for  us  to  say  ^That's  your  funeral,*  or  ^That's 
my  funeral.'  We  are  bound  by  a  moral  and  financial  ob- 
ligation to  each  other.  Let  us  remember  that  when  we 
are  tempted  to  be  careless  or  lie  down  on  the  job.''^^ 

Although  the  sharing  of  profits  between  capital  and 
labor  is  a  step  in  the  right  direction,  it  is  no  final  solution 
of  the  problem  of  organizing  our  economic  life  around 
the  principle  of  service.  If,  as  this  report  has  maintained,- 
all  industry  exists  for,  and  finds  its  justification  in,  the 
welfare  of  the  whole  community,  then  surplus  profits, 
above  what  is  needed  for  remunerating  all  the  factors 
engaged  in  production  and  providing  for  its  efficient 
continuation,  should  belong  to  the  community.  This 
becomes  all  the  clearer  when  it  is  realized  that  all  wealth 
is  a  social  creation,  made  possible  by  the  needs  and 
activities  of  society,  so  that  no  one  can  say  of  his  profits, 
*Ts  it  not  lawful  for  me  to  do  what  I  will  with  mine 
own  ?'*  How  surplus  profits  can  actually  be  made  avail- 
able for  the  good  of  the  public  cannot  yet  be  fully  de- 

*^See  The  Nation,  Nov.  i,  1919,  p.  558. 

'Trom  "The  Tracer/'  Oct.,  1919,  published  at  the  Garner  Print 
Works  and  Bleachery. 


PRESENT  PRACTICABLE  STEPS    169 

termined.  The  most  direct  way  is  in  making  prices  as 
reasonable  as  possible  to  the  consumer.  If  large  surplus 
profits  remain  in  private  hands  they  should  be  used  in  the 
spirit  of  service  to  further  worthy  social  ends.  The 
conclusion  of  the  British  Quaker  employers  on  this  point 
merits  thoughtful  consideration: 

"We  cannot  believe  that  either  the  proprietors  or  the 
workers  are  entitled  to  the  whole  of  the  surplus  profits  of 
the  business,  though  they  might  reasonably  ask  for  such 
a  share  as  would  give  them  an  interest  in  its  financial 
prosperity.  .  .  .  We  believe  that  in  equity  the  community 
may  claim  the  greater  part  of  surplus  profits.^^  If  this  is 
not  taken  in  the  form  of  taxation,  we  think  that  it  should 
be  regarded  by  those  into  whose  hands  it  passes  as  held 
in  trust  for  the  community.  We  are  not  prepared  to  sug- 
gest in  detail  schemes  by  which  such  a  trust  should  be 
administered.  If  the  profits  are  taken  in  the  ordinary 
way  by  the  proprietors,  they  should  be  regarded  as  a  trust 
and  spent  for  the  common  good ;  or  the  proprietors  might 
limit  the  amount  they  themselves  took  out  of  the  business, 
while  surplus  profits  were  put  into  a  separate  account, 
and  spent,  at  the  joint  discretion  of  the  proprietors  and 
workers,  for  the  benefit  of  the  general  public.  Our  point 
is  that  the  bulk  of  them  at  least  belongs  to  the  community, 
and  should  be  used  in  its  interest." 

A  system  of  taxation  which  is  progressively  graded  ac- 
cording to  men's  ability  to  pay  tends  in  the  direction 
of  securing  part  of  the  surplus  for  the  common  good. 
On  this  principle  taxes  on  excess  profits  and  in- 
heritances are  now  coming  to  be  generally  accepted. 
A  third  form  of  surplus  income,  which  is  not  now 
taxed    but    which    might    well    become    a   source    of 


*°They  define  surplus  profits  as  "any  surplus  which  may  re- 
main over  when  labor  has  been  paid  on  the  scale  referred  to 
above  (including  minimum  and  secondary  wage)  and  managers 
and  directors  have  been  remunerated  according  to  the  market 
value  of  their  services,  when  capital  has  received  the  rate  of 
interest  necessary  to  insure  an  adequate  supply,  having  regard 
to  the  risk  involved,  and  when  necessary  reserves  have  been  made 
for  the  security  and  development  of  the  business."  See  The 
Survey,  Nov.  23,  1918. 


I70        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

revenue  for  public  uses,  is  the  unearned  increment  in  land 
values,  arising  from  the  scarcity  of  land  relative  to 
increasing  population.  The  increase  in  value  of  real 
estate  on  the  island  of  Manhattan  is  clearly  due  not  to 
individual  effort  or  foresight  but  to  the  activities  of  the 
community  as  a  whole.  This  being  so,  it  is  hard  to  see 
why  the  community  should  not  have  this  surplus  for  the 
common  good. 

The  obvious  difficulty  in  taxation  as  a  method  of 
securing  surplus  profits  for  the  general  good  is  that  the 
public  funds  thus  secured  are  so  often  inefficiently,  un- 
wisely, undemocratically,  or  even  dishonestly  adminis- 
tered. They  may  be  spent  to  maintain  tremendous  mili- 
tary establishments  or  to  make  party  plunder  all  the 
easier.  Only  as  we  develop  a  socially-minded  people  and 
a  public-spirited  government  can  such  a  program  of  the 
use  of  the  surplus  be  effectively  carried  out.  We  are  thus 
led  again  to  see  that  in  whatever  way  we  seek  to  secure 
a  better  social  order,  our  ultimate  need  is  for  Christian 
motives  and  better  character.  So  absolutely  fundamental 
is  this  spiritual  factor  that  we  shall  consider  it  more  fully 
in  the  following  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE 

Our  consideration  of  practicable  next  steps  toward 
removing  some  of  the  unchristian  aspects  of  our  present 
industrial  life  leads  us  to  ask  now  what  a  thoroughgoing 
application  of  Christian  principles  would  require.  If 
we  take  our  point  of  departure  definitely  from  the  Chris- 
tian teaching  concerning  personality,  brotherhood,  and 
service,  toward  what  kind  of  an  economic  system  shall 
we  move  ? 

One  thing  at  least  has  already  become  clear :  we  bave 
to  turn  our  backs  once  for  all  upon  a  policy  of  unre- 
stricted individualism.  The  idea  of  every  man  for  him- 
self is  now  seen  to  be  not  only  unchristian  but  socially 
disastrous.  We  have  discovered  "the  futility  of  holding 
up  self-interest  as  a  guide  in  the  social  life  and  then 
hoping  to  solve  the  social  problem  by  striking  a  balance 
between  egoisms,  whether  of  individuals  or  of  groups.''^ 
We  know  now  that  society  is  so  much  an  organism  that 
it  cannot  be  in  sound  condition  so  long  as  any  part  of  it 
is  left  unhealthy,  any  more  than  a  body  can  be  normal 
when  the  arms  or  legs  are  infected  with  disease.  We 
have  come  to  the  Christian  view  that  we  are  all  members 
one  of  another. 

I.  An  Increasing  Extension  of  Social  Control 

The  break  with  economic  individualism,  to  which  we 
have  thus  been  led,  requires  an  increasing  extension  of 
social  responsibility  and  control.  This  is  contemplated 
in  each  of  the  steps  already  considered  in  the  foregoing 
chapter.  Even  to  the  changes  there  proposed  the  objec- 
tion may  be  brought  that  they  would  mean  "socialism.** 
To  this  we  would  reply  that  if  to  assume  our  collective 

'C.  A.  Ellwood,  "The  Social  Problem,"  New  York,  1917,  P.  237- 

171 


172         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

responsibility  for  the  conditions  of  our  social  life  be 
'^socialism,"  then  as  Christians  we  are  all  "socialists." 
And  we  ought  certainly  now  to  be  beyond  the  point  of 
condemning  things  by  mere  names.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
however,  we  have  thus  far  been  discussing  only  measures 
for  the  protection  of  the  unprotected  members  of  society 
and  the  securing  of  more  brotherly  relations  which  are 
entirely  practicable  within  the  general  limits  of  our  pres- 
ent industrial  system. 

What  is  needed,  then,  is  not  to  urge  that  we  abandon 
a  laissez-faire  policy  so  much  as  to  realize  that  we  have 
already  done  so  and  that  we  are  now  definitely  moving 
in  another  direction.  Men  of  the  most  diverse  economic 
views  are  looking  forward  to  a  much  greater  degree  of 
democratic  control  of  the  processes  of  production  and 
distribution  of  wealth.  The  only  question  is  as  to  how 
far  this  control  should  go  and  by  what  method  it  should 
be  secured. 

The  question  comes  to  sharpest  focus  when  we  con- 
sider the  question  of  the  ownership  of  the  means  of 
production.  Under  private  ownership  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  secure  the  complete  mutuality  of 
interests  that  makes  for  full  cooperation  in  the  indus- 
trial process,  for  private  ownership  has  made  a  division 
of  the  industrial  community  into  two  groups,  on  the  one 
hand  those  who  own  and  therefore  control  and,  on  the 
other,  those  who  are  dependent  upon  the  owners.  The 
result  is  that  the  two  groups  are  in  conflict  to  secure 
from  each  other  a  larger  share  of  the  product.  Consid- 
ered in  this  light,  there  seems  little  doubt  but  that  some 
form  of  cooperation  in  the  ownership  of  productive 
wealth  is  the  completest  expression  of  social  control 
and  is  the  ultimate  goal  most  in  keeping  with  the 
Christian  ideal  of  brotherhood.  In  the  words  of  the 
Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social  Service:  "Chris- 
tian democracy  applied  to  industry  means  the  develop- 
ment  of    cooperative   relations   to   the    fullest   possible 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE   173 

•extent.  The  Churches  should  therefore  clearly  teach  the 
principles  of  the  fullest  possible  cooperative  control  and 
ownership  of  industry  and  the  material  resources  upon 
which  industry  depends,  in  order  that  men  may  be 
spurred  to  develop  the  methods  that  shall  express  the 
principles/'^ 

The  point  at  v^hich  the  question  of  private  ownership 
is  most  challenged  is  that  of  our  natural  resources.  Upon 
these  all  men  are  dependent  for  their  opportunity  to  work 
and  to  live.  And  here  we  obviously  have  to  do  not  with 
capital  which  any  one  can  claim  to  have  created,  but 
with  the  bounty  of  the  Creator  to  the  whole  human 
family.  Certainly  the  Christian  ideal  is  that  these  means 
of  the  common  life  should  somehow  be  made  subject  to 
the  common  good  and  the  common  will. 

Why,  then,  do  the  Churches  not  insist  that  we  pro- 
ceed at  once  to  adopt  some  comprehensive  scheme  of 
social  ownership?  The  answer  is  obvious.  Any  co- 
operative system  has  to  depend  on  cooperative  men,^ 
and  the  men  and  women  who  would  have  to  carry  out  the 
system  have  not  attained  a  sufficiently  cooperative  spirit. 
As  we  pointed  out  in  an  earlier  chapter,  an  absolute  ideal 
cannot  be  immediately  applied  in  a  society  that  is  only 
progressively  becoming  Christian. 

However  correct  in  principle  social  ownership  may  be, 
it  is  only  too  clear  that  in  practice  it  involves  serious  dif- 
ficulties that  it  is  folly  to  ignore.  For  efficient  public 
ownership  is  possible  only  if  we  have  both  a  socially- 
minded  and  an  efficient  administration.  These,  unfortu- 
nately, we  cannot  count  on  having.  To  turn  over  to- 
morrow to  the  state  such  tremendously  increased  powers 

^Report  of  the  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social  Service 
to  the  quadrennial  meeting  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches 
of  Christ  in  America,  1916. 

^It  is  of  course  also -true  that  without  practice  in  cooperation, 
cooperative  men  will  not  be  developed,  as  is  pointed  out  in  a 
later  part  of  this  chapter.  Here  we  are  emphasizing  the  fact 
that  a  general  desire  for  cooperation  is  the  point  at  which  we 
have  to  begin. 


174         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

over  industry  as  would  be  involved  in  state  ownership 
might  mean  only  to  provide  additional  opportunities  for 
party  plunder.  Even  if  government  is  honest  it  may  be 
administered  by  men  who  have  no  wisdom  in  the  prob- 
lems of  industry.  Surely  management  must,  in  any  event, 
be  in  the  hands  of  those  who  know  how.  We  have  noth- 
ing to  gain  by  setting  a  selfish  or  inefficient  political 
machine  to  run  our  economic  life. 

And  even  if  there  be  administrative  efficiency  and 
honesty,  there  may  still  be  rigid  officialism  and  consequent 
loss  of  freedom.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  we  witness  today 
a  growing  tendency  to  distrust  any  enlargement  and  in- 
creased centralization  of  political  power.  Even  in  the 
so-called  democratic  state  a  great  degree  of  bureaucracy 
has  been  an  obvious  fact.  Individualism  would  undoubt- 
edly be  preferable  to  state  control  by  representatives  who 
do  not  really  represent  the  common  will  but  impose  their 
own  decisions  upon  the  people.  Clearly  there  is  the  pos- 
sibility of  an  over-socialization  that  would  subject  the 
individual  to  too  much  restraint,  and  so  far  from  giving 
him  greater  freedom,  rob  him  of  the  measure  of  freedom 
that  he  now  has.  Even  the  workers  themselves  do  not 
necessarily  have  anything  to  gain  by  passing  from  private 
employ  into  the  control  of  the  state,  as  our  postal  clerks 
would  no  doubt  attest. 

And  we  must  not  overlook  the  fact  that  there  are  ad- 
vantages connected  with  private  ownership  which  it 
is  highly  essential  to  safeguard.  The  calling  out  of 
personal  initiative,  foresight,  independence  of  thought, 
and  freedom  of  action  is  indispensable  to  fully  devel- 
oped personality  and  hence  to  a  worthy  and  efficient  so- 
ciety. A  large  degree  of  private  ownership  there  ought, 
therefore,  undoubtedly  always  to  be.^     And  as  far  as 

*This  is,  of  course,  readily  admitted  by  many  socialists.  See, 
for  example,  John  Spargo*s  "Socialism,"  New  York,  1910,  pp. 
296-300,  in  which  it  is  pointed  out  that  socialist  theory  requires 
the  socializing  only  of  such  large  scale  industry  as  makes  pos- 
sible the  exploitation  of  other  men  by  the  owner. 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE  175 

public  ownership  becomes  a  fact  the  values  connected 
with  private  enterprise  must  somehow  be  preserved. 
Unless  this  is  the  case,  the  gain  on  one  side  may  be  more 
than  counterbalanced  by  loss  on  the  other. 

The  normal  reluctance  of  any  citizen  to  come  under 
bureaucratic  control  takes  on  more  serious  form  when 
we  consider  the  Christian  citizen  in  his  relationship  to  the 
state.  He  realizes  how  tragically  our  past  policy  of 
economic  individualism  has  failed  to  secure  the  Christian 
goal.  He  is  eager  to  have  society  assume  its  full  respon- 
sibility and  extend  social  control  in  the  interest  of  the 
public  good.  But  to  do  so  means  to  increase  the  power 
of  the  state  over  the  lives  of  all  its  citizens.  This  might, 
indeed,  be  advantageous  if  only  the  state  were  ani- 
mated by  the  Christian  motive  and  were  to  use  its 
increased  power  for  the  Christian  end.  Unhappily  we  do 
not  yet  have  any  assurance  that  this  will  be  the  case. 
Are  we,  then,  to  delegate  to  an  unchristian  political 
administration  the  control  of  the  social  relationships  of 
men  who  really  desire  to  be  Christian?  Under  the  pres- 
ent system,  faulty  as  it  is,  they  have  more  freedom 
to  apply  the  Christian  motive  and  to  experiment  with 
measures  looking  toward  the  Christian  goal  than  they 
would  have  under  the  domination  of  a  bureaucracy.  The 
problem  of  the  relation  of  Church  and  state,  always  a 
difficult  one,  thus  comes  even  more  sharply  into  light.^ 


^Even  if  a  state  were  inspired  with  the  Christian  motive  and 
were  to  seek  consistently  the  Christian  end,  we  should  have  still 
to  consider  the  relation  of  such  a  state  to  other  states  not  similarly- 
organized  on  Christian  principles.  Just  as  the  individual  cannot 
fully  realize  the  Christian  ideal  in  an  unchristian  environment, 
no  more  can  a  state.  A  nation  that  should  administer  its  entire 
economic  life  on  the  basis  of  seeking  first  the  good  of  all  man- 
kind might  find  itself  at  the  mercy  of  a  stronger  power  seeking 
its  own  aggrandizement.  To  realize  the  Christian  ideal  for 
society,  therefore,  it  is  necessary  not  only  to  Christianize  our 
corporate  life  as  a  nation  but  also  to  Christianize  the  life  of  the 
world.  Thus  we  are  brought  to  the  imperativeness  of  the  foreign 
missionary  enterprise  of  the  Church.  Whatever  else  foreign  mis- 
sions means,  it  is  the  expression  of  the  fact  that  all  mankind  is 
bound  up  in  one  bundle  of  life. 


176         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Yet  our  study  has  led  to  the  conclusion  that  con- 
trol must  somehow  be  democratically  distributed.  We  have 
seen  clearly  that  the  management  of  industry  must  not 
be  responsible  solely  to  capital  but  to  the  human  beings 
engaged  in  it  and  to  the  whole  community.  It  is  as  a 
means  to  this  end  that  social  ownership  is  urged  by  many 
earnest  men.  May  it  not  be,  however,  that  a  limitation 
of  the  rights  of  private  capital,  rather  than  the  abolition 
of  it,  would  secure  the  desired  end?  For  although 
capital  now  claims  the  right  to  control  industry,  owner- 
ship and  control  are  not  necessarily  inseparable^  We 
have  already  found  a  strong  movement  in  the  direction 
of  a  sharing  of  control  between  capital  and  labor.  And 
even  if  control  ultimately  passes  entirely  from  the  hands 
of  absentee  owners,  who  do  not  themselves  engage  in 
the  processes  of  production,  to  those  who  by  hand  or 
brain  actually  produce  goods  for  society,  this  is  not  to 
say  that  all  industry  must  be  taken  over  by  the  state. 
Private  ownership  may  still  remain,  receiving  interest 
on  the  investment,  but  no  longer  possessing  the  right 
of  control.  Whether  the  ownership  should  be  private 
or  social  can  be  wisely  decided  only  in  the  light  of  gradual 
experiment.  Even  then,  no  generalization  is  possible,  as 
the  social  results  of  either  kind  of  ownership  may  be 
different  in  the  cases  of  different  kinds  of  property.  For 
the  peasant  to  own  his  own  plot  of  ground  is  almost 
certainly  to  the  advantage  of  society.  To  hold  land  for 
purposes  of  speculation  is  a  very  different  thing.  In  any 
event  the  final  solution  must  be  reached  on  the  basis  of 
what  proves  to  be  for  the  welfare  of  society. 

The  obstacles  thus  presented  to  centralizing  ownership 
in  the  state  as  it  now  is  are  recognized  by  others  than 
those  who  are  definitely  committed  to  the  Christian  ideal. 
Many  socialists  themselves  so  fully  appreciate  the  diffi- 
culty that  a  new  type  of  socialist  program,  known  as  guild  J 
socialism,  has  developed.  "National  guildsmen,  of  ■ 
course,"   says   one  of   their  chief   spokesmen,   *'do  not 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE   177 

recognize  the  state  of  today  as  a  body  capable  of  exer- 
cising ownership  on  behalf  of  the  community."^  Even 
the  so-called  democratic  state  is,  from  their  point  of  view, 
far  too  undemocratic  to  be  intrusted  with  the  manage- 
ment of  industry.  They  therefore  propose  that  although 
the  title  to  all  wealth-producing  wealth  should  be  vested 
in  the  state,  the  actual  control  of  each  industry  should  be 
in  the  hands  of  the  producers  themselves.  But,  even  so, 
the  state  must  function  widely  in  the  industrial  life  of 
the  nation,  to  see  to  it  that  the  various  guilds,  or  groups 
engaged  in  the  several  industries,  are  kept  in  proper 
harmony  with  one  another.  So  the  problem  of  control  by 
the  as  yet  unchristian  state  would  still  remain,  while 
within  each  industry  the  problem  of  actually  securing  the 
cooperation  of  the  workers  themselves  for  a  common 
goal  would  be  more  important  than  ever.  Every  in- 
crease in  social  responsibility  and  social  control  makes  a 
new  demand  upon  character.  More,  not  less,  essential 
does  the  Christian  motive  become.  Only  as  a  majority 
of  men  and  women  come  to  the  point  where  they  will 
really  make  the  public  good  the  first  consideration,  can 
we  have,  under  any  kind  of  organization,  such  control  of 
industry  as  will  really  secure  the  Christian  end. 

2.  Need  for  Education  in  Cooperation 

To  reach  the  goal  of  full  collective  responsibility  and 
control  must  therefore  be  a  task  for  persistent  education 
ii.  more  brotherly  living.  For  brotherhood,  being  a  spir- 
itual quality,  cannot  be  achieved  by  a  crisis  of  fury  and 
conflict.  Step  by  step  we  must  advance  through  the 
moral  discipline  of  increasingly  united  efforts.''^     If  we 


"G.  H.  D.  Cole,  "Self-Government  in  Industry."  London,  1918, 
p.  161. 

^The  significance  of  voluntary  cooperative  organizations  of 
producers  or  consumers  lies  chiefly  in  the  fact  that  they  are 
a  step  in  the  process  of  education  in  fuller  cooperation.  Of  such 
present  movements  the  most  important  is  the  so-called  "Co- 
operative Movement,"  which  seeks  to  organize  its  members  in  a 


178         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

have  dreamed  of  securing  a  thoroughly  cooperative 
society  by  any  sudden  reorganization  of  our  economic 
life,  it  is  an  idea  which  v^e  have  definitely  to  forgo. 
Without  a  new  spirit,  outer  changes  have  no  value,  and 
spirit,  like  body,  does  not  come  to  full  stature  all  at  once. 
The  need  for  such  growth  in  the  spirit  of  cooperation 
is  recognized  by  many  socialists  as  the  indispensable  con- 
dition of  a  cooperative  state.  In  the  earnest  words  of 
one  of  them,: 

"Should  socialism  arrive  otherwise  than  as  the  result 
of  an  inward  transformation,  affecting  the  deep  springs 
of  will  and  love,  it  would  prove  the  worse  disaster  of  any 
experiment  in  collective  living  that  the  world  has  seen. 
.  .  .  Socialism  is  democracy  pushed  to  an  extreme.  It 
would  involve  immensely  elaborated  machinery.  Unless 
the  spirit  of  the  living  creature  be  in  the  wheels,  one 
foresees  them  grinding  destruction.  Should  the  coopera- 
tive commonwealth  be  other  than  the  expression  of  a 
general  will  very  different  from  that  of  today,  it  would 
be  an  unbearable  tyranny.     The  only  comfort  is  that  it 


program  of  cooperation  in  distribution  of  goods,  and  also  within 
certain  limits  in  production.  Originating  in  England  in  the 
well-known  Rochdale  Experiment  in  1844,  it  aimed  to  reduce 
the  prices  of  commodities  of  common  use,  through  coopera- 
tively managed  stores.  The  plan  of  organization  is  that  the 
consumers  are  themselves  the  shareholders,  receiving  dividends 
in  proportion  to  amounts  purchased.  The  movement  thus  rests 
on  an  idea  of  a  real  union  of  producers  and  consumers.  Its 
primary  objective  being  to  lower  the  cost  of  commodities,  it 
makes  no  attempt  to  eliminate  the  wage  system,  though  encour- 
aging trade  union  activity.  Within  certain  limits  at  least  it  clearly 
rests  on  the  principle  that  the  advantage  of  each  is  not  opposed 
to,  but  bound  up  with,  the  advantage  of  all. 

As  the  movement  developed  it  was  found  necessary  to  have 
not  only  stores  but  farms,  plantations,  and  factories  to  supply 
the  stores.  Now  it  is  also  developing  banking  and  investment 
facilities.  In  the  United  Kingdom  the  movement  has  a  member- 
ship of  about  3,500.000.  In  the  United  States  it  has  made  slower 
development,  but  there  are  evidences  that  it  is  gaining  here.  It 
is  estimated  that  throughout  the  world  there  are  at  least  10,000,000 
members,  and,  as  most  of  them  represent  families,  probably 
40,000,000  people  are  actively  interested.  Its  annual  sales  amount 
to  upwards  of  $1,000,000,000.  For  a  brief  history  of  the  move- 
ment, especially  in  the  United  States,  see  The  Monthly  Labor 
Review  of  the  U.  S.  Department  of  Labor,  March,  1919,  pp. 
132-144. 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE  179 

could  not  endure.  It  might  quite  conceivably  be  ushered 
in  suddenly,  forced  by  revolution  or  by  the  proletariat 
vote  on  an  unprepared  world  which  had  undergone  no 
inner  change;  it  could  never  be  so  maintained.  For  no 
social  order  can  be  even  relatively  stable  if  mechanically 
introduced.  It  must  be  a  growth ;  and  growth  has  to  root 
deeply  underground  before  it  shows  much  in  the  light 
of  day."8 

That  only  as  an  evolutionary  transition  from*our  pres- 
ent society  would  socialism  ever  be  possible  is  taken  as 
the  definite  basis  of  the  influential  group  that  constitutes 
the  Fabian  Society.  The  most  widely  known  representa- 
tive of  the  group  frankly  says: 

"It  was  against  all  thinking  and  teaching  of  this  catas- 
trophic kind  that  the  Society  gradually  came  to  set  its 
face — not,  as  J  believe,  because  we  were  any  less  in 
earnest  in  our  warfare  against  existing  evils,  or  less 
extreme  in  our  remedies,  but  because  we  were  sadly  and 
sorrowfully  driven  to  the  conclusion  that  no  sudden  or 
simultaneous  transformation  of  society  from  an  individ- 
ualist to  a  collectivist  basis  was  possible,  or  even  think- 
able."9 

What  we  have  been  saying  is,  in  a  word,  that  social 
ownership  is  at  any  time  practically  advantageous  only 
in  the  degree  to  which  men  have  become  educated  to 
cooperative  living.  An  increasingly  democratic  control 
over  the  processes  of  industry  is  an  essential  part  of  such 

^Vida  Scudder,  "Socialism  and  Character,"  Boston,  1912,  pp. 
187-188.  (Italics  are  ours.)  Cf.  H.  G.  Wells :  "I  have  tried  to  let 
it  become  apparent  that  while  I  do  firmly  believe,  not  only  in 
the  splendor  and  nobility  of  the  socialist  dream,  but  in  its  ultimate 
practicability,  I  do  also  recognize  quite  clearly  that  with  people 
just  as  they  are  now,  with  their  prejudices,  their  ignorances,  their 
misapprehensions,  their  unchecked  vanities,  greeds,  and  jealousies, 
their  untutored  and  misguided  instincts,  their  irrational  traditions, 
no  socialist  state  can  exist,  no  better  state  can  exist,  than  the 
one  we  now  have  with  all  its  squalor  and  cruelty."  "New 
Worlds  for  Old,"  New  York,  1913,  p.  203. 

■'Sidney  Webb,  "The  Basis  and  Policy  of  Socialism,"  London, 
1909,  p.  51.  Cf.  H.  G.  Wells,  "New  Worlds  for  Old,"  quoted 
above :  "An  educational  process  and  a  moral  discipline  are  not 
only  a  necessary  part  but  the  most  fundamental  part  of  any 
complete  socialist  scheme." 


i8o        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

an  educational  process.  And  the  extent  to  which  social 
ownership  may  be  required  to  make  such  control  possible 
can  be  answered  only  in  the  light  of  enlarging  ex- 
perience. There  is  no  way  of  defining  in  advance  the 
amount  of  change  that  may  be  necessary.  What  we 
have  to  do  is  to  go  forward  as  rapidly  as  possible, 
in  the  confidence  that  as  we  do  so  the  more  distant  path 
will  become  increasingly  clear. 

As  Christians,  then,  we  are  not  committed  either  to 
the  present  industrial  system  or  to  any  other.  In  fact^ 
as  we  discovered  in  a  previous  chapter,  industrial  sys- 
tems are  such  complexes  of  gradually  changing  elements 
that  it  may  be  impossible  at  any  given  time  to  say  whether 
the  social  order  should  more  truly  be  called  individualist 
or  collectivist.  Our  present  order  has  already  moved 
far  away  from  an  unrestricted  laissez-faire  philosophy,, 
so  that  we  have  a  considerable  degree  of  social  control 
and  even  of  ownership.  Not  even  the  most  ardent  advo- 
cate of  individualism  proposes  that  the  highways  and  the 
mails  should  be  operated  for  private  profit.  Where  is  the 
line  that  would  mark  such  a  transition  from  individualism 
as  would  warrant  our  saying  that  we  had  passed  over  into 
a  new  "system''?  We  cannot  say.  Nor  does  it  matter. 
What  we  are  concerned  about  is  that  the  principles  to 
which  as  Christians  we  are  committed  should  find 
expression  as  fully  and  as  rapidly  as  possible.  The  social 
order  that  will  result  will,  we  are  convinced,  be  con- 
tinuous with  the  present  one  and  developed  along  lines 
already  clearly  begun.  Whether  that  system  will  be 
designated  as  capitalist  or  socialist  or  something  else  is 
'of  small  moment. 

The  practical  impossibility  of  saying  whether  the 
realization  of  the  Christian  principles  would  require 
another  industrial  "system''  may  be  made  clear  by  an 
illustration.  Take  the  wage  system,  for  example,  which 
we  have  found  to  be  a  crucial  point  of  attack.  As  it 
now  is  in  the  greater  part  of  our  industrial  life,  we  have 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE   i8i 

been  forced  to  conclude  that  it  is  largely  out  of  harmony 
with  our  Christian  ideal,  causing  a  conflict  instead  of  a 
mutuality  of  interests,  and  failing  to  afford  to  the  work- 
ers due  freedom  to  order  their  own  lives  or  to  share  in 
a  democratic  way  in  matters  of  common  concern.  But 
in  Great  Britain  a  few  months  ago  a  reorganization  of 
the  building  trade  was  proposed.  A  committee  of  eight 
employers  and  eight  operatives  was  appointed  by  the 
Building  Trades  Parliament  of  Great  Britain,  "to  con- 
sider the  questions  of  scientific  management  and  reduc- 
tion of  costs,  with  a  view  to  enabling  the  building  in- 
dustry to  render  the  most  efficient  service  possible."  The 
committee's  report  recognizes  that  the  end  desired  cannot 
be  attained  except  as  the  industry  is  democratically  con- 
trolled  as  a  self-governing  unit  and  organized  around 
the  principle  of  public  service.  "We  believe,"  the  com- 
mittee says,  "that  given  the  vision,  the  faith,  and  the 
courage,  our  industry  will  be  able  to  lead  the  way  in 
the  industrial  and  social  readjustments  that  are  imminent. 
We  have  glimpsed  the  possibility  of  the  whole  building 
industry  of  Great  Britain  being  welded  together  into  one 
great  self-governing  democracy  of  organized  public 
service — uniting  a  full  measure  of  free  initiative  and 
enterprise  with  all  the  best  that  applied  science  and  re- 
search can  render.  Nothing  short  of  this  will  produce 
the  full  development  of  the  'team  spirit'  in  industry 
which  is  the  key  to  the  whole  problem  of  production; 
nothing  short  of  this  is  worthy  of  the  high  ideals  for 
which  our  Industrial  Council  stands."  The  proposed 
program  provides  not  only  for  democratic  management 
through  an  industrial  council,  but  also  for  limiting  pay- 
ment of  interest  to  a  fixed  guaranteed  percentage  and  for 
using  surplus  earnings  for  such  common  interests  as 
education  and  superannuation.^^    It  is  not,  however,  the 

^"Malcolm  Sparkes,  "Memorandum  on  Self-Government  in 
Industry,  together  with  a  Draft  for  a  Builders'  National  In- 
dustrial Parliament,"  London,  1918.  See  also  discussion  on 
above  in  The  World  Tomorrow,  December,  1919. 


i82         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

details  of  the  procedure  with  which  we  are  here  con- 
cerned. The  significant  thing  is  that  a  serious  proposal 
of  "a  great  self-governing  democracy  of  organized  public 
service''  has  been  made  by  a  committee  of  employers  and 
employes  representing  an  industry  as  a  whole.  Such  a 
plan  w^ould  so  change  the  present  character  of  the  wage 
system,  while  the  employer-employe  relationship  would 
remain,  that  it  is  hard  to  say  whether  it  should  more 
correctly  be  called  a  part  of  a  capitalist  or  of  a  socialist 
industrial  order. 

Such  changes  as  these,  now  beginning  to  take  place, 
make  it  clear  that  the  industrial  organization  of  the  future 
is  a  matter  for  progressive  modification  and  experiment. 
How  far  the  change  in  formal  organization  will  go  we 
cannot  say.  Nor  do  we  need  to  say.  One  thing,  how- 
ever, is  needful — that  the  central  ethical  principles  of  the 
better  social  order  should  be  unmistakable,  that  they 
should  be  the  standard  for  judging  our  present  order, 
and  that  we  should  continually  modify  our  economic 
system  in  whatever  ways  will  make  possible  their  fuller 
realization.  As  to  what  these  guiding  principles  should 
be  we  have  no  doubt.  They  are  inseparable  from  the 
religious  faith  which  was  the  starting  point  of  our  discus- 
sion. They  demand  that  the  development  of  personality, 
not  the  possession  of  material  goods,  be  the  goal  of  our 
industrial  life;  that  brotherhood,  not  class  domination,  be 
our  social  relationship;  that  the  degree  of  service  to 
society,  not  economic  strength,  shall  determine  the  re- 
ward which  any  factor  in  industry  should  receive. 

3.  A  New  Motive  in  Industry  the  Supreme  Need 

Our  conclusion  that  we  can  advance  into  a  more  co- 
operative order  only  as  we  can  develop  more  cooperative 
men  has  led  us  back,  in  the  last  analysis,  to  the  Christian 
teaching  that  the  primary  motive  in  all  social  action  must 
be  love.  The  one  thing  now  most  essential  Is  to  have  done 
with  the  idea  that  the  chief  purpose  of  an  industry  is  the 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE   183 

private  profit  of  those  by  whom  it  is  carried  on.  Industry 
must  be  regarded  primarily  as  a  social  function,  carried 
on  to  serve  the  community.  Instead  of  an  "acquisitive 
society,"  organized  around  the  promoting  of  individual 
wealth-getting,  we  must  have  what  an  English  economist 
has  lately  called  a  "functional  society,"  aiming  to  make 
the  acquisition  of  wealth  contingent  upon  the  discharge 
of  social  obligations,  to  proportion  remuneration  to 
service  and  deny  it  to  those  by  whom  no  service  is  per- 
formed, to  inquire  always  "not  what  men  possess,  but 
what  they  can  make,  or  create,  or  achieve."^  ^  Or,  to  use 
the  language  of  recent  psychological  studies,  we  must 
subordinate  the  acquisitive  impulses  to  the  creative.^ 2 
In  any  case,  whether  we  use  the  language  of  the  Christian 
teacher,  of  the  economist,  or  of  the  psychologist,  the 
central  point  is  the  same — the  path  of  advancing  civiliza- 
tion lies  along  the  lines  of  a  deliberate  seeking  of  the 
common  good. 

As  incentives  to  production,  as  we  have  discovered  in 
an  earlier  chapter,  we  have  hitherto  generally  relied  on 
some  form  of  the  desire  for  private  gain.  Hence  if  a 
personal  advantage  is  to  be  derived  from  curtailing 
production,  whether  by  employer  or  employe,  it  is 
curtailed.  Selfishness  is  therefore  seen  to  be  not  only 
unchristian  but  socially  ineffective  as  well.  For  self- 
interest  vv^e  must  substitute  the  Christian  motive  of 
service  for  the  common  weal.  Only  as  the  good  of  the 
individual  is   found  in  the  larger  good  of  all  can  we 


"R.  H.  Tawney,  "The  Sickness  of  an  Acquisitive  Society," 
London,  1920.  With  this  may  be  compared  the  words  of  a  dis- 
tinguished American  industrial  engineer:  "A  nation  whose  busi- 
ness system  is  based  on  service  will  in  a  short  time  show  such 
advancement  over  one  whose  business  system  is  operated  pri- 
marily with  the  object  of  securing  the  greatest  possible  profits 
for  the  investing  class,  that  the  latter  nation  will  not  be  long  in 
the  running." — H.  L.  Gantt,  "Organizing  for  Work,"  New  York, 
1919,  p.  14. 

"See,  e.  g.,  Bertrand  Russell,  "Principles  of  Social  Reconstruc- 
tion," and  Helen   Marot,   "The  Creative   Impulse   in   Industry." 


i84         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

have  a  harmonious  and  efficient  society.     In  the  words  of 
the  head  of  a  well-known  English  firm : 

"Unless  industry  is  really  recognized  as  primarily  a 
national  service,  in  which  each  individual  is  fulfilling  his 
function  to  the  best  of  his  ability  for  the  sake  of  the  com- 
munity, in  which  private  gain  is  subordinated  to  public 
good — unless  we  build  on  this  foundation,  there  is  no 
hope  of  creating  the  House  Beautiful.  If  each  man 
thinks  of  making  his  pile  by  all  the  means  that  economic 
individualism  allows,  if  class  bands  itself  against  class, 
trade  union  against  employers'  federation,  firm  against 
firm,  to  secure  the  greatest  share  of  the  world's  goods  in 
unrestricted  competition,  social  life  must  inevitably  break 
down  and  anarchy  reign  supreme."^  ^ 

So  when  all  is  said  and  done,  our  one  hope  for  a  better 
industrial  order  is  found  to  be  in  the  development  of  the 
Christian  motive.  The  supreme  change  needed  in  our 
economic  life  is  one  of  spirit  and  of  purpose.  Without 
this  no  change  in  external  organization  will  suffice,  and 
any  outer  change  is  significant  only  as  it  ministers  to  the 
development  of  the  new  spirit.  Our  present  industrial 
system  is  wrong  because  men's  motives  are  wrong,  and  it 
cannot  be  made  really  right  until  the  controlling  motive 
is  right. 

If  the  question  of  securing  a  Christian  social  order  is 
finally  reduced  to  the  realm  of  motive,  the  main  question 
becomes  this,  "Can  men's  motives  be  changed?"  There 
are  many  who  say  that  economic  self-interest  is  the  only 
impulse  universal  and  basic  enough  to  afford  a  permanent 
foundation  for  industry.  To  this  the  Christian's  answer 
is  that  our  faith  in  men  as  the  children  of  God  means 
that  they  are  capable  of  responding  to  the  noblest  motives. 
To  deny  this  is  to  deny  Christ's  view  of  man.^*    And  this 


**W.  L.  Hichens,  "Some  Problems  of  Industry,"  London,  1919, 
p.  27. 

"Cf.  the  discussion  in  "Competition:  A  Study  in  Human 
Motive,"  op.  cit.  p.  163  ff.,  in  which  it  is  emphasized  that  "Chris- 
tianity, at  any  rate,  stands  or  falls  with  a  faith  in  the  redemption 
of  man/' 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE   185 

faith  in  human  nature  we  find  corroborated  by  the  facts 
of  human  experience  itself.  For  motives  develop  power 
to  control  in  proportion  as  they  are  appealed  to.  Ac- 
quisitive impulses  are  now  strong  because  we  organize 
our  industrial  life  around  an  appeal  to  this  motive.  If 
other  motives  were  really  appealed  to,  they  would  develop 
equal  power  to  control.  In  the  words  of  John  Stuart 
Mill,  "the  deep-rooted  selfishness  which  forms  the  gen- 
eral character  of  existing  society  is  so  deeply  rooted  only 
because  the  whole  course  of  existing  institutions  tends 
to  foster  it."^^  We  have  an  elusive  circle  in  which  men 
are  selfish  largely  because  our  social  order  appeals  to 
selfishness,  and  in  which  our  present  social  order  has  so 
many  evils  because  men  are  selfish.  We  shall  effectively 
break  the  circle  only  as  we  definitely  undertake  to  center 
our  industrial  life  around  another  motive  than  the  pursuit 
of  private  profit. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  where  another  motive  is  genuinely 
appealed  to,  we  do  find  it  developing  power  to  control.  In 
the  professions  of  the  ministry,  of  teaching,  and  of 
medicine  this  is  clearly  seen  to  be  the  case.  This  is  also 
true  in  industry  where  personal  contacts  and  opportunity 
for  individual  self-expression  have  not  yet  been  lost.  Of 
the  salaried  managers  of  large  industries,  as  contrasted 
w4th  the  owners,  profit  is  not  the  chief  incentive.  They 
give  themselves  to  their  work  because  they  find  in  it  the 
satisfaction  of  the  instinct  of  workmanship  and  of  the 
desire  to  do  things  worth  while.  In  such  situations,  wiiat 
men  really  want  is  not  so  much  to  acquire  wealth  as  to 
find  full  self-realization  through  doing  the  biggest  job  of 
which  they  are  capable,  in  the  best  way  that  they  can,  and 
so  to  fill  the  largest  possible  place  in  the  social  order.  So 
the  president  of  the  United  States  works  just  as  hard  as 
the  president  of  a  vast  corporation  for  a  fraction  of  the 
latter's  income,  and  the  stupendous  achievement  of  the 

^^Quoted  in  "Competition :  A  Study  in  Human  Motive,"  pp. 
168,  169. 


i86         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Panama  Canal  is  carried  through  by  an  army  offi- 
cer on  an  army  officer's  modest  salary.  But  in  most 
modern  industry  and  business  these  higher  motives 
are  very  inadequately  appealed  to.  We  do  not  know 
what  resources  of  human  nature  are  latent  and  unused, 
because  we  constantly  assume  that  competitive  seeking  of 
private  profits  is  the  only  foundation  for  our  economic 
life. 

Have  we  learned  nothing  in  this  matter  from  our  ex- 
perience in  the  war.?  Surely  we  discovered  then  that 
human  nature  would  respond  to  other  appeals  than  that  of 
personal  gain.  The  men  in  the  army  were  not  dominated 
by  the  money  motive.  Even  in  industry  we  found  a  new 
spirit,  in  spite  of  much  conscienceless  profiteering.  Con- 
tractors would  work  on  a  cost-plus  basis,  and  employes 
would  forgo  the  right  to  strike,  because  the  goal  of 
industry  was  then  the  meeting  of  a  public  need.  We  must 
find  some  way  of  perpetuating  this  spirit  in  times  of  peace. 
But  this  we  cannot  hope  to  do  so  long  as  private  profit 
is  the  accepted  idea  around  which  our  industrial  organi- 
zation is  to  be  reared.  Men  rightly  desire  success,  and 
success  in  business  is  now  identified  with  money-getting* 
What  we  need  is  a  new  standard  of  success. 

What  we  must  have,  then,  if  there  is  to  be  a  better  social 
order  is  a  new  heart.  But  this  does  not  mean  that  we 
may  be  unconcerned  with  the  economic  environment. 
For  the  sake  of  the  better  motive  itself  outer  changes  are 
necessary,  because  either  for  good  or  ill  the  surroundings 
affect  the  inner  spirit.  The  development  of  the  new 
motive  and  the  external  reorganization  of  society  are 
interdependent.  The  individual  and  the  social  environ- 
ment constantly  act  and  react  on  each  other.  So  the 
individual  cannot  be  fully  Christian  until  the  social  or- 
ganization is  Christianized.  On  the  other  hand,  until 
men  themselves  are  Christian  no  ideal  social  scheme  is 
workable.  The  new  motive  and  the  better  organization 
must  therefore  develop  together.     The  transformation 


QUESTION  OF  THE  LONGER  FUTURE  187 

of  character  should  lead  to  transformation  of  environ- 
ment and  the  bettered  environment  in  turn  minister  to 
further  transformation  of  character. 

In  concluding  that  the  industrial  problem  is  insoluble 
unless  we  can  develop  in  men's  lives  the  motive  of  seek- 
ing the  common  good,  we  find  ourselves  again  at  the  point 
at  which  we  began — namely,  Christianity.  It  has  always 
declared  the  way  of  love  to  be  the  true  way  of  life.  It 
has  always  held  up  the  ideal  of  brotherhood  as  the  true 
relationship  of  men  and  mutual  service  as  the  law  of  that 
brotherhood.  In  the  Cross  it  has  had  a  perpetual  symbol 
of  this  message,  to  call  men  back  when  they  have  for- 
gotten it.  Upon  Christian  men  and  women  and  upon  the 
Church,  therefore,  there  rests  a  peculiar  responsibility. 
What  their  distinctive  contribution  to  the  securing  of  the 
better  social  order  should  be  we  shall  consider  in  the  two 
final  chapters. 


CHAPTER  VII 

WHAT  INDIVIDUAL  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  TO 
CHRISTIANIZE  THE  INDUSTRIAL  ORDER 

The  previous  chapters  have  undertaken  to  analyze  some 
of  the  constructive  measures  needed  to  secure  a  more 
Christian  social  order.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  they 
can  be  brought  about  only  as  men  and  women,  whose 
conscience  approves  and  whose  motives  are  stimulated 
by  the  Christian  ideal,  bring  their  energies  practically  to 
bear  upon  these  tasks.  The  present  chapter,  therefore, 
undertakes  to  answer  in  some  measure  the  question. 
What  obligations  under  existing  conditions  are  laid  upon 
those  who  have  accepted  the  principles  of  Jesus? 

A  program  as  comprehensive  as  that  suggested  in  the 
preceding  chapters  seems  to  be  so  far-reaching  and  to 
demand  so  much  united  effort  that  the  individual  nat- 
urally tends  to  throw  off  responsibility  from  his  own 
shoulders.  He  is  convinced  that  all  workers  should 
receive  sufficient  income  to  afford  full  development  of 
the  higher  life,  but  for  him,  as  a  single  employer  on  a 
small  scale,  to  apply  the  principle  in  the  payment  of  his 
own  few  employes  seems  too  much  like  a  drop  in  the 
bucket  to  be  of  any  consequence.  Or  he  is  convinced 
that  stockholders  have  no  moral  right  to  receive  as  divi- 
dends funds  that  were  needed  to  pay  a  living  wage,  but 
as  a  single  petty  stockholder  himself  there  seems  to  be 
little  or  nothing  that  he  can  do  to  influence  the  policy 
of  a  great  impersonal  corporation.  Or  he  is  convinced 
that  labor  unions  should  honestly  fulfil  their  contracts 
and  seek  to  render  the  fullest  service  possible  in  produc- 
tion, but  as  a  single  member  of  a  union  with  a  member- 
ship of  thousands  his  own  contribution  to  that  end 
appears  to  be  insignificant. 

i88 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  189 

It  is  undoubtedly  true  that  the  difficulties  of  the  present 
order  are  in  large  measure  beyond  the  power  of  the 
individual  to  overcome.  They  arise,  as  pointed  out  in  a 
previous  chapter,  not  simply  from  the  faults  of  individ- 
uals, but  from  certain  wrong  general  assumptions  on 
which  our  economic  system  rests.  An  individualistic 
ethics  such  as  has  generally  been  held  up  in  the  past  is, 
therefore,  inadequate  for  the  present  day.  Modern  busi- 
ness and  industrial  collectivism  demand  a  collective 
morality.  A  Christian  social  order  can  be  fully  secured 
only  as  such  a  social  conscience  and  such  a  social  will  are 
developed  that  the  community  as  a  corporate  body  will 
undertake  to  attain  what  individuals  acting  independently 
cannot  hope  to  secure. 

The  difficulties  that  confront  an  individual  who,  in  the 
midst  of  an  environment  only  partially  Christianized, 
undertakes  to  apply  the  Christian  motive  in  a  thorough- 
going way  in  all  his  social  relationships  is  well  illustrated 
by  the  experience  of  the  great  Quaker,  John  Woolman, 
as  much  as  a  century  and  a  half  ago : 

''Woolman  experienced  to  the  full  that  horror  of 
sharing  in  social  guilt  which  we  are  wont  to  deem  wholly 
modern.  With  no  notion  of  running  away,  from  civiliza- 
tion, remaining  in  ordinary  industrial  and  social  rela- 
tions, he  bent  his  energy  to  avoid  injuring  his  brother. 
To  this  end,  he  traveled  steerage  in  unimaginable  horrors, 
because  his  ship's  cabin  had  been  decorated  by  slave- 
labor;  walked  from  end  to  end  of  England  to  avoid 
countenancing  the  cruelty  shown  the  post-boys  in  the 
chaises;  and  on  his  death-bed  refused  medicines  till 
assured  that  none  had  suffered  in  compounding  them.  As 
amusing  as  pitiful  were  his  efforts  to  abstain  from  evil 
and  to  lead  the  Christian  life  of  'plainness,'  mercy,  meek- 
ness, in  a  world  where  all  the  threads  ran  the  other  way."^ 

But  we  must  not  let  the  limitations  that  surround  the 
individual  blind  us  to  his  responsibility  and  real  oppor- 


*Vida  Scudder,  "Socialism  and  Character,"  p.  229. 


I90         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

tunity.  That  he  is  powerless  to  do  as  much  as  he  would 
like  is  no  reason  for  failing  to  do  as  much  as  he  can. 
And,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  there  is  far  more  that  individual 
Christians  and  groups  of  Christians  can  do  to  make  their 
influence  effective  than  is  usually  appreciated.  Single  men 
or  groups  of  men  possessed  of  ability  and  daring  have 
wielded,  and  still  wield,  a  tremendous  power.  One  can 
hardly  measure,  for  example,  the  influence  that  the 
handful  of  British  Quaker  employers  have  already  had 
upon  bettering  industrial  relations  through  their  delib- 
erate acceptance  of  their  personal  responsibility  to  take 
the  next  steps  now  possible.  But  even  more  im- 
portant than  the  action  of  the  occasional  outstanding 
personality  is  the  influence  of  the  rank  and  file  of  so- 
called  "ordinary"  men  and  women  who  are  impelled  by 
the  Christian  motive.  For  the  individual  who  so  acts 
as  to  further  the  Christian  social  goal  does  not  act  in 
isolation.  He  is  one  of  a  company  whom  he  may  not 
know  but  who  are  Inspired  by  the  same  ideal  and  whose 
cumulative  influence  is  far  greater  than  Is  ever  realized. 

"Each  separate  star  seems  nothing: 
A  myriad  scattered  stars  break  up  the  night 
And  make  it  beautiful." 

It  is  by  individuals  that  In  the  last  analysis  the  world 
has  to  be  transformed.  However  much  we  may  empha- 
size the  need  of  a  social  conscience  and  social  action,  there 
is  no  way  by  which  we  can  ever  get  a  better  social  con- 
science except  as  individuals  who  realize  their  own  re- 
sponsibility lead  their  fellows  to  share  the  same  point  of 
view  and  join  them  in  social  effort.  To  criticize  the 
inadequacy  of  an  "individualistic  morality"  or  an  "in- 
dividualistic Christianity"  is  not  at  all  to  minimize  the 
significance  of  the  Individual.  It  is  only  to  insist  that  the 
individual  is  a  social  being,  and  therefore  can  become 
truly  moral,  truly  Christian,  only  as  he  becomes  so  in  all 
his  social  relationships. 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  191 

For  the  individual  Christian  to  step  out  in  advance  of 
the  prevailing  standards  of  business  morality  will  be  an 
act  of  faith.  But  faith  is  the  foundation  of  the  Christian 
v^ay  of  life.  However  skeptical  others  may  be  as  to  the 
possibility  of  securing  any  real  social  advance,  the  Chris- 
tian's faith  in  God  and  in  the  potential  capacities  of  men 
as  children  of  God  will  give  him  assurance  that  any  ex- 
periment which  he  may  make  in  a  further  application  of 
the  Christian  motive  will  be  seed  sown  in  good  ground 
and  will  eventually  bring  forth  fruit.  This,  of  course, 
does  not  mean  that  one  can  ignore  all  practical  considera- 
tions. It  does  mean,  however,  that  we  are  not  to  modify 
Christianity  to  meet  the  so-called  practical  demands  of 
business,  but  rather  to  seek  progressively  to  adapt  busi- 
ness to  Christian  principles. 

For  the  Christian  to  adopt  higher  social  standards 
before  others  are  willing  to  do  so  may  involve  financial 
loss  and  sacrifice,  but  to  be  ready  to  make  sacrifice  for 
the  good  of  mankind  is  an  essential  part  of  the  Chris- 
tian way  of  life.  Why  should  not  Christians  today 
run  the  risk  of  diminished  financial  returns  in  the  same 
spirit  in  which  a  few  months  ago  they  were  ready  to 
make  the  sacrifice  of  their  lives  for  the  sake  of  securing 
a  better  world?  If  we  are  not  as  willing  to  sacrifice 
our  property  as  we  were  willing  that  men  should  sacrifice 
their  lives,  does  it  not  indicate  that  we  still  fail  adequately 
to  lay  hold  of  the  Christian  principle  that  human  values 
are  always  superior  to  material  ones?  At  least  as 
Christians  we  must  be  constantly  on  our  guard  lest  self- 
interest  warp  our  moral  judgments,  for  this  is  what  self- 
interest  always  tends  to  do.  Good  men  who  held  slaves 
a  generation  ago  could  not  see  that  it  was  wrong.  Re- 
spectable employers  who  in  our  own  day  maintain  in- 
dustries that  depend  upon  child  labor  are  often  honestly 
of  the  opinion  that  industry  could  not  go  on  without  it. 
As  Christians  in  our  several  economic  spheres  we  must 
make  the  deliberate  effort  to  think  through  our  responsi- 

\ 


192         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

bilities  in  the  light  of  our  religion  quite  apart  from  their 
bearing  on  our  own  private  gain. 

In  the  ensuing  section  the  attempt  is  made  to  indicate 
the  point  of  view  from  which  individual  Christians  in 
their  various  economic  capacities  as  employers,  employes, 
investors,  and  consumers,  should  approach  their  prob- 
lems, and  to  make  certain  concrete  suggestions  of  next 
steps  that  may  be  worth  consideration.  In  no  case  is  it 
presumed  that  any  one  can  determine  another's  duty,  but 
in  each  case  we  start  with  the  assumption  that  it  is  the 
personal  responsibility  of  all  Christians  to  seek  a  further 
application  of  the  Christian  motive  in  their  particular 
economic  fields.  Only  in  this  way  can  we  progress 
toward  a  more  Christian  social  order. 

I.  Christians  as  Employers 

Those  who  are  in  a  position  of  greater  privilege  or  ad- 
vantage have  thereby,  in  the  Christian  view,  the  greater 
responsibility.  "To  whom  much  is  given,  of  him  shall 
much  be  required.''  The  responsibility  of  the  employer 
is,  therefore,  considered  first,  not  because  it  is  a  different 
kind  of  responsibility  but  because  it  brings  special  oppor- 
tunity. In  the  words  of  a  recent  statement  by  the 
Merchants'  Associatio'n  of  New  York  on  industrial  re- 
lations :  "Employers  must  take  the  lead  in  the  effort  to 
apply  sound  principles  to  the  improvement  and  advance- 
ment of  industrial  relationships.  Much  in  the  way  of 
leadership  is  properly  expected  of  them." 

The  Christian  employer,  regarding  the  industry  with 
which  he  is  connected  as  not  only  a  means  of  livelihood 
but  a  service  to  society,  will  endeavor  to  think  of  all  the 
problems  of  the  industry  in  terms  of  their  bearing  upon 
the  personality  of  those  engaged  in  it.  Realizing  that  in 
his  employ  are  human  souls,  entitled  to  equal  opportuni- 
ties with  himself  for  full  self -development,  he  will  see  to 
it  that  wages  sufficient  to  support  a  family  in  comfort, 
and  hours  short  enough  to  allow  leisure  for  family  life,  are 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  193 

the  first  charge  against  the  industry.  By  disregarding 
his  responsibilities  he  may  gain  an  advantage  over  a 
competitor,  and,  conversely,  by  acting  on  Christian  prin- 
ciples he  may  place  himself  at  a  disadvantage  in  respect  to 
a  self-seeking  rival.  Nevertheless,  many  men  have  suc- 
ceeded in  applying  Christian  principles  to  business  v^ith- 
out  economic  loss.  It  would  seem  to  be  the  duty  of  every 
Christian  to  make  the  trial.  He  may  thus  succeed  in 
show^ing  that  the  fullest  consideration  of  human  values 
is  not  only  possible  without  economic  loss  but  is  itself 
the  truest  economy. 

The  responsibility  of  the  employer  is  more  easily  met 
in  a  small-scale  industry  in  which  the  employer  is  per- 
sonally at  the  head  of  the  business,  provides  most  of  the 
capital,  and  assumes  the  financial  risk.  When  we  come 
to  the  employer  in  large-scale  industries  it  is  often  not 
easy  to  say  who  the  employer  is.  In  any  great  industry 
the  technical  side  is  under  the  direction  of  engineers  and 
experts,  who  are  themselves  employes  and  are  not  allowed 
full  independence  in  directing  (the  processes  of  pro- 
duction. Above  them  are  the  directors,  who  pass  on 
questions  of  general  policy,  select  officers,  and  criticize 
or  approve  reports.  The  real  control  is  in  the  hands 
of  a  few  active  directors,  high  officials  and  large  stock- 
holders, and  often  certain  financial  officers  and  legal 
counsel.  But  while  responsibility  in  such  a  corporation 
cannot  be  as  sharply  determined,  personal  moral  responsi- 
bility cannot  be  evaded  even  if  legal  responsibility  can. 
Every  Christian  in  any  position  of  control  is  by  that  very 
fact  made  responsible  for  using  his  influence  to  the  full- 
est extent  possible  to  secure  Christian  social  ends. 

In  industrial  relations  no  less  than  in  international 
relations  one  of  the  greatest  sources  of  suspicion  and 
antagonism  is  "secret  diplomacy*'  and  control  exercised 
in  the  dark.  Frank  consultation  based  on  knowledge  of 
the  actual  facts  will  go  far  toward  creating  mutual  under- 
standing and  good  will.     The  Christian  employer  will, 


194         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

therefore,  seek  ways  of  promoting  among  his  employes  an 
intelHgent  understanding  of  the  status  and  problems  of 
the  industry.  If  dispute  arises  as  to  whether  higher 
wages,  shorter  hours,  or  better  conditions  are  practicable, 
he  will  be  willing  to  open  his  books  and  reveal,  at  least  to 
an  impartial  arbitrator,  the  cost  of  production  and  the  size 
of  the  profits.  We  have  had  recent  examples  of  mill 
owners  who  insisted  that  higher  wages  were  impossible 
and  who  refused  to  submit  their  books  to  an  impartial 
investigation,  but  who,  a  few  months  later,  made  the  ad- 
vance in  wages  which  they  had  declared  to  be  impossible. 
In  the  face  of  such  a  situation  it  can  hardty  be  regarded 
as  surprising  if  the  workers  distrust  the  management 
and  feel  that  they  are  being  treated  as  mere  items  in  the 
cost  of  production.  On  the  ather  hand,  such  an  attitude 
as  that  of  the  late  William  H.  Baldwin,  who,  when  in 
control  of  a  large  railroad  and  confronted  by  a  demand 
for  higher  wages,  offered  to  submit  the  financial  condition 
of  the  road  to  proper  investigation  by  a  disinterested 
party,  is  thoroughly  conducive  to  mutual  confidence  and 
cooperation. 

There  are  employers  who  believe  that  a  regular  system 
by  which  the  financial  condition  of  the  industry  becomes 
the  rightful  knowledge  of  the  workers,  as  well  as  of  the 
management,  is  economically  efficient  because  of  the 
cooperation  and  good  will  which  it  enlists.  The  group 
of  British  Quaker  employers,  so  often  referred  to  in  this 
report,  have  recorded  their  conviction  that  it  is  desirable 
to  give  full  information  as  to  wages,  average  costs,  and 
average  profits  in  industry  as  a  basis  for  effective  collec- 
tive bargaining  and  "as  a  recognition  of  the  public  char- 
acter of  our  industrial  functions."  Nor  is  this  procedure  M 
confined  merely  to  the  realm  of  recommendation;  the 
experiment  is  being  made  successfully  in  this  country, 
In  at  least  one  "shop  committee"  plan  there  is  a  sys- 
tematic method  of  reporting  monthly  to  the  workers 
as  well  as  to  the  board  of  directors  the  company's  net 


I 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  195 

earnings,  which  constitute  the  basis  for  a  profit-sharing 
program. 2 

In  small-scale  industries  it  is  possible  for  the  employer 
to  establish  such  personal  contacts  with  his  employes  as 
to  promote  a  feeling  of  brotherhood  and  practically  to 
eliminate  suspicion  and  ill  will.  Industry  is  by  its  nature 
a  cooperation  between  employer  and  employed,  and  the 
economic  partnership  ought  to  have  a  moral  and  spiritual 
value  in  personal  relationships  created  thereby.  An  em- 
ployer who  keeps  in  sympathetic  touch  with  those  who 
work  for  him  helps  to  make  the  ideal  of  brotherhood 
which  he  professes  seem  more  concrete  and  real.  One  of 
the  chief  reasons  for  the  antagonism  of  employer  and 
employed  in  our  modern  large  scale  industry  is  undoubt- 
edly the  lack  of  such  personal  contacts.^  The  employer 
sits  behind  a  closed  door  and  knows  his  men  only  as*  he 
knows  his  machines.  Or  perhaps  he  is  a  thousand  miles 
away  and  knows  them  only  as  those  who  make  possible 
the  coupons  that  he  clips.  But  even  in  an  industry  where 
the  number  of  workers  is  too  large  to  admit  personal 
contacts  with  all,  it  is  possible  for  the  employer  to  main- 
tain constant  contacts  with  representatives  of  the  many. 
This  is  one  of  the  significant  aspects  of  the  shop  commit- 
tee plan.  Without  such  contacts  neither  employer  nor 
employe  is  likely  to  think  of  the  other  as  a  partner  in  any 
vital  sense. 

The  employer  of  today  has  no  finer  opportunity  for 
Christian  service  than  to  experiment  in  the  democra- 
tizing of  industry.  That  future  industrial  development 
lies  in  this  direction  our  previous  discussion  leaves  no 
room  for  doubt.    We  cannot  glorify  democracy  in  politics 

"See  article  on  "How  the  Shop  Committee  Plan  Actually  Works 
in  America,"  by  Ray  Stannard  Baker,  New  York  Evening  Post, 
Feb.  6,  1920.     Cf.  p.  167  of  this  volume. 

'Compare  the  statement  of  W.  L.  Mackenzie  King :  "In  the  dis- 
appearance of  the  personal  relationships  between  the  parties  to 
industry,  and  in  the  growth  of  impersonal  attitudes,  occasioned 
by  vast  and  complex  organizations,  lies  the  crux  of  the  Labor 
Problem." — "Industry  and  Humanity,"  Boston,  1918,  p.  59. 


196        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

and  oppose  it  in  industry.  But  although  the  principle  is 
clear,  the  particular  method  by  which  it  may  best  be 
achieved  is  still  a  matter  for  progressive  experiment.  If 
democracy  in  industry  does  not  come  with  the  coopera- 
tion of  employers,  it  will  probably  come  in  spite  of  them. 
What  a  superb  opportunity,  then,  the  situation  presents  to 
the  Christian  employer!  He  may  illustrate  Christian 
social  principles  in  action  by  aligning  himself  heartily 
with  a  movement  which  may  for  the  moment  be  out  of 
line  with  his  own  private  material  interest,  but  which  is 
clearly  in  the  direction  of  the  Christian  ideal.  The  class 
consciousness  of  which  the  socialistic  program  makes  so 
much  rests  upon  the  assumption  that  only  those  can  be 
enlisted  in  the  betterment  of  the  economic  order  who  will 
personally  profit  thereby.  That  this  cynical  attitude  is 
unwarranted  can  be  shown  only  by  a  readiness  on  the  part 
of  the  dominant  classes  to  give  up  their  position  of  per- 
sonal power  in  the  interest  of  the  common  good.  By  his 
own  active  acceptance  of  the  principle  of  democracy  in 
industry  the  Christian  employer  may  show  that  the  Chris- 
tian way  of  life  and  sacrifice  is  not  something  alien  to 
humanity  but  an  actual  factor  in  economic  life.  Who 
knows  but  that  at  the  same  time  he  may  also  show  that 
democracy  and  industrial  efficiency  go  hand  in  hand  ? 

2.  Christians  as  Investors 

To  a  far  larger  extent  than  is  commonly  realized  in- 
vestors control  business  policies.  In  our  highly  complex 
economic  life  the  carrying  on  of  industry  is  dependent 
upon  loans  secured  from  large  numbers  of  people,  who 
constitute  the  investing  public  and  who  by  their  invest- 
ments become  practically  the  employers.  To  be  an  investor 
means,  therefore,  to  be  a  direct  participant  in  our  indus- 
trial system  and  to  share  in  responsibility  for  its  results. 

The  Christian  investor,  conceiving  wealth  as  a  trust, 
will  make  investments  in  the  spirit  of  service.  His  money 
he  will  regard  not  as  a  means  of  exercising  selfish  control 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  197 

but  as  an  opportunity  for  further  social  usefulness.  In 
all  his  investments,  therefore,  he  will  consider  first  the 
industrial  conditions  that  lie  back  of  securities  and  refuse 
so  far  as  possible  to  become  part  owner  in  industries  that 
exploit  human  beings  by  failure  to  pay  living  wages  or 
otherwise  to  protect  human  values.  In  a  previous  section 
of  this  report  we  came  to  the  conclusion  that  from  the 
Christian  standpoint  the  receiving  of  interest  finds  its 
justification  only  when  it  is  a  reward  for  actual  service 
rendered  to  society.  And  the  investment  of  capital  is  not 
a  social  service  unless  it  is  placed  in  an  enterprise  whose 
results,  both  direct  and  indirect,  are  socially  beneficent. 

That  the  task  of  making  investments  in  a  way  that  shall 
conform  to  the  Christian  principle  of  service  is  one  of 
tremendous  difficulty  is  undeniable.  The  individual  in- 
vestor who  undertakes  it  has  a  problem  even  more  difficult 
than  that  of  the  individual  employer  or  employe  in  large- 
scale  competitive  industry.  As  a  single  stockholder  he 
finds  himself  well-nigh  powerless  if  his  holdings  are  small. 
Suppose  he  discovers  that  his  corporation  is  an  employer 
of  child  labor  or  is  guilty  of  other  methods  of  exploiting 
humanity.  What  is  he  to  do?  Of  course  he  should 
protest.  But  if  his  protest  fails  to  effect  any  change,  has 
he  a  moral  right  to  sell  his  stock  at  the  market  price  and 
invest  the  money  elsewhere  ?  In  that  case  the  conditions 
in  the  industry  are  not  bettered — perhaps  they  become 
worse.  Shall  he  then  still  hold  his  stock  and  continue  to 
protest?  The  question  is  confessedly  difficult,  and  yet 
the  principle  of  personal  responsibility  and  the  need  for 
holding  stockholders  responsible  is  clear.  In  the  words 
of  Professor  John  Dewey:  "If  society  holds  stockholders 
responsible,  they  will  soon  cease  to  elect  managers 
merely  on  an  economic  basis  and  will  demand  morality." 

There  are  inspiring  instances  of  investors  who  have 
made  deliberate  efforts  to  assume  full  personal  responsi- 
bility for  the  consequences  of  their  investment.  In  191 1, 
after  the  report  of  the  Pittsburgh  Survey  was  printed,^ 


198         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Mr.  Charles  Cabot,  an  influential  broker  in  Boston,  wrote 
to  the  editor  of  The  Survey  a  vigorous  protest  against  the 
statements  concerning  working  hours,  and  conditions  in 
the  steel  industry  in  Pittsburgh,  insisting  particularly 
that  it  could  not  be  true  that  men  and  boys  worked  twelve 
hours  a  day  and  that  once  a  fortnight  they  worked 
twenty-four  hours  at  a  stretch.  When,  however,  those 
statements  were  all  substantiated  to  his  complete  satis- 
faction, he  decided  that  the  facts  ought  to  be  made  known 
to  every  stockholder  and  bondholder  connected  with  the 
industry.  For  this  purpose  the  first  thing  that  he  needed 
was  a  list  of  stockholders.  Although  he  was  himself 
among  the  number  he  spent  three  years  in  the  effort  to 
secure  such  a  list,  having  to  resort  to  procedure  in  the 
courts  on  two  occasions.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the 
changes  which  Mr.  Cabot  sought  to  bring  about  have  not 
been  secured,  but  at  least  he  succeeded  in  securing  the 
facts  and  making  them  known  to  the  stockholders  in  a 
way  that  still  challenges  their  consciences  to  secure  better 
conditions.  The  illustration  also  indicates  how  little  op- 
portunity the  average  stockholder  has  had  of  actually 
knowing  the  conditions  in  the  industry  from  which  his 
dividends  have  been  derived. 

The  question  of  investments  is  so  important  that  fur- 
ther illustrations  may  not  be  amiss.  The  holder  of  a  large 
amount  of  stock  in  a  certain  company  learned  that  men 
were  employed  to  scrape  lead  paint  from  walls  of  small 
compartments  in  which  there  was  no  ventilation,  and  then 
to  repaint  these  compartments  with  white  lead  paint. 
Lead  poisoning  was  common  and  the  workmen  had  no 
such  compensation  for  illness  from  this  poisoning  as  they 
would  have  received  from  a  so-called  industrial  accident. 
This  stockhalder  presented  the  exact  facts  to  the  president 
of  the  company  and  insisted  that  the  use  of  white  lead  be 
abandoned  and  zinc  substituted  for  it.  After  a  thorough 
discussion  of  the  subject  the  stockholder  informed  the 
president  that  the  sole  choice  lay  between  the  immediate 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  199 

substitution  of  zinc  for  lead  or  the  fullest  possible  pub- 
licity, accompanying  the  throwing  of  a  vast  block  of  the 
company's  stock  on  the  market,  with  an  explanation  for 
the  stockholder's  unwillingness  longer  to  hold  the  stock. 
It  was  then  found  possible  to  substitute  zinc  for  lead. 

A  single  further  illustration  is  worthy  of  note.  A 
widow  inherited  a  considerable  fortune  from  her  father 
and  husband,  the  whole  capital  being  left  in  the  hands  of 
administrators  who  continued  the  investment  in  cotton 
mills.  The  income  alone,  therefore,  was  subject  to  her 
personal  decision.  She  spent  a  large  part  of  this  income 
in  acquainting  herself  with  conditions  in  the  industry  and 
has  for  several  years  systematically  made  every  possible 
personal  economy  in  order  to  give  generously  to  organiza- 
tions devoted  to  improving  conditions  in  textile  factories. 

These  instances  illustrate  the  power  which  it  is  possible 
for  large  investors  to  exert  in  the  interest  of  securing 
better  industrial  conditions,  if  they  will  take  the  necessary 
trouble  to  inform  themselves  and  fully  realize  their  per- 
sonal responsibility.  Small  investors  can  at  least  return 
their  proxies  for  annual  meetings  with  a  definite  statement 
that  they  are  more  interested  in  working  conditions  than 
in  large  dividends.  And  if  Christians  generally  would 
refuse  to  lend  money  to  business  or  industrial  concerns 
which  seriously  violated  Christian  standards  and  would 
seek  to  make  investments  in  concerns  that  honestly  at- 
tempt to  safeguard  the  interests  of  the  workers,  even  if 
the  interest  return  be  not  so  large,  this  one  thing  alone 
would  go  far  toward  effecting  great  change  for  the  better. 
It  has  been  well  suggested  that  we  need  a  "white  list"  of 
firms  that  best  conform  to  Christian  standards  in  wages, 
hours,  and  industrial  relationships,  and  a  league  of  in- 
vestors who  would  seek  to  place  their  investments  in  the 
firms  of  the  largest  social  outlook.^  Even  the  conserva- 
tive London  Times  recently  suggested  that  in  the  stock 

'See  Vida  Scudder's,  "The  Church  and  the  Hour,"  pp.  55-58, 
New  York,  1917. 


200        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

exchange  list  "a  distinguishing  mark  should  be  appended 
to  the  name  of  every  British  company  paying  a  standard 
of  wages  not  disproportionate  to  its  dividends/'  the  oc- 
casion of  the  suggestion  Leing  a  strike  that  disclosed  the 
fact  that  labor  was  sweated  to  provide  350  per  cent 
profit.^ 

A  Committee  of  the  London  Yearly  Meeting  of  the  So- 
ciety of  Friends  in  1916  undertook  to  make  certain  con- 
crete suggestions  in  the  matter  of  investments.  On  the 
negative  side  they  suggested  that  there  were  certain  con- 
cerns in  which  there  could  be  general  agreement  that 
Christians  should  have  no  part,  such  as  businesses  making 
or  dealing  in  munitions  of  war  or  intoxicants,  connected 
in  any  way  with  the  employment  of  slave  labor  in  tropical 
lands,  employing  sweated  labor,  or  engaged  in  making 
articles  that  could  clearly  be  classed  as  luxuries.  On  the 
positive  side  they  took  the  position  that  they  should  by 
their  investments  give  both  financial  and  moral  support  to 
concerns  that  manifested  a  definite  social  conscience  by 
organizing  along  democratic  and  cooperative  lines,  even 
if  the  rate  of  interest  should  be  lower.^  A  journal  in 
this  country  has  recently  gone  so  far  as  to  make  the  fol- 
lowing proposal  as  a  basis  for  a  league  of  Christian 
investors:  "We,  the  undersigned,  in  view  of  our  re- 
sponsibility as  stockholders  and  beneficiaries  through 
shares  in  corporations,  feel  compelled  to  state  our  convic- 
tion :  ( I )  That  the  first  charge  on  industry  should  be  the 
adequate  and  honorable  compensation  of  those  engaged 
in  it ;  (2)  that  the  ultimate  control  in  industry  should  pass 
from  the  owners  of  capital  to  those  who  work  by  hand  or 
brain.  In  so  far  as  we  may  have  power  or  influence  we 
will  use  it  to  carry  this  belief  into  effect  in  the  determina- 
tion of  questions  concerning  wages  and  working  condi- 
tions in  those  companies  in  which  we  hold  stock. 
Furthermore,  we  will  seek  and  support  such  reorganiza- 

^Quoted  in  The  World  Tomorrow,  Feb.,  1920. 
•"Whence  Come  Wars?"  London,  1916,  pp.  93-95. 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  201 

tion  of  industry  as  will  promote  the  highest  good  of  the 
workers  and  of  the  community  at  large,  even  though  it 
may  mean  the  ultimate  disappearance  of  any  separate 
class  of  shareholders,  and  we  are  prepared  to  accept  such 
personal  loss  as  may  arise  from  this  process  of  reorgan- 
ization/"^ 

For  investors  seriously  to  face  the  responsibilities  of 
the  use  of  their  wealth  in  investments  will  require  the 
same  spirit  of  faith  and  willingness  to  sacrifice  which  we 
have  found  to  be  required  of  employers  in  experimenting 
in  industrial  democracy.  But  in  the  case  of  the  investor, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  employer,  the  Christian  challenge  is 
also  an  opportunity.  For  those  now  in  the  position  of 
privilege  to  deal  with  our  economic  questions  not  from 
the  standpoint  of  protecting  their  own  present  power  but 
of  seeking  the  welfare  of  the  human  family  would  be 
the  most  convincing  witness  to  the  Christian  Gospel  that 
can  possibly  be  imagined. 

3.  Christians  as  Employes 

The  foregoing  discussion  of  the  responsibilities  of  the 
employer  and  the  investor  may  seem  almost  to  sug- 
gest that  the  securing  of  a  more  Christian  social  order 
rests  in  their  hands  alone.  But  nothing  could  be  further 
from  the  truth.  Labor  has  its  duties  no  less  than  its 
rights,  and  concerning  these  we  must  speak  with  the  same 
frankness  with  which  we  have  considered  the  functions 
of  those  who  furnish  the  capital  or  are  responsible  for 
the  organization  of  the  plant.  The  same  Christian  prin- 
ciples apply  to  all  alike.  Each  is  required  to  think  of  the 
industry  as  a  whole,  and  of  his  part  in  it  as  not  simply 
an  opportunity  for  private  gain  but  as  a  service  to  the 
common  good.  To  differing  functions  identical  principles 
must  be  applied. 


"^The  World  Tomorrow,  Feb.,  1920. 


202         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  Christian  employe  will  perform  his  work  with 
honesty,  diligence,  and  genuine  interest,  conceiving  his 
task  as  his  personal  opportunity  to  minister  to  the  well- 
being  of  the  community.  He  will  realize  that  he  can  show 
himself  qualified  to  assume  larger  responsibilities  in  the 
industry  only  in  proportion  as  he  does  his  present  work 
in  a  hearty  and  efficient  way.  He  will,  therefore,  himself 
produce  to  his  full  capacity  and  will  oppose  any  deliberate 
limitation  of  output  on  the  part  of  other  workers.  He 
will  do  so  because  the  Christian  principle  of  service  de- 
mands of  him  the  best  effort  that  he  can  give.  He  will 
admit  that  it  is  as  unjust  for  the  workers  to  rob  society 
of  its  rightful  measure  of  needed  goods  by  withhold- 
ing a  part  of  their  productive  power  as  it  is  for  manu- 
facturers to  do  so  for  the  sake  of  making  prices  high. 

While  thus  urging  upon  the  workers  a  refusal  to  adopt 
the  policy  of  limitation  of  output,  which  has  sometimes 
been  advocated  by  labor  unions,  we  think  it  important  at 
the  same  time  to  make  it  clear  that  the  restriction  of  pro- 
duction which  is  now  found  in  many  industries  is  not  due 
simply  to  the  indifference,  carelessness,  or  apathy  of  the 
workers.  In  great  measure  the  existing  system  of  pro- 
duction, which  affords  to  the  workers  too  scant  oppor- 
tunity for  genuine  interest  or  initiative  in  their  work,  is 
responsible  for  it.  The  report  of  the  Industrial  Council 
for  the  Building  Industry  of  Great  Britain  showed  that 
there  are  four  main  factors  that  tend  to  limitation  of  out- 
put, namely,  (a)  the  fear  of  unemployment,  which  natur- 
ally inclines  the  worker  to  make  his  job  last  as  long  as 
possible;  (b)  disinclination  to  make  unrestricted  profits 
for  private  employers ;  (c)  a  lack  of  interest,  due  to  non- 
participation  in  the  management  of  the  industry;  (d) 
inefficiency.^  The  statements  of  Robert  Smillie,  one  of 
the  outstanding  labor  leaders  in  Great  Britain,  on  this 


*See  the  discussion  of  this  report  by  Malcolm  Sparkes  in  The 
World  Tomorrow,  Dec,  1919. 


i 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  203 

point  are  significant:  "I  know  that  in  many  cases  the 
workers  are  not  doing  what  they  might  do,  and  what 
they  would  do  if  they  were  working  under  a  different 
system.  They  do  not  take  pride  in  their  work,  not  the 
pride  that  used  to  be  taken  by  the  workmen  of  the  past  in 
turning  out  the  best  possible  material.  Our  present  sys- 
tem aims  chiefly  at  getting  the  most  possible  out  of  the 
worker,  and  that  does  not  lend  itself  in  my  opinion  to  the 
best  relationship,  nor  does  it  lend  itself  to  employers* 
doing  for  their  workers  what  otherwise  they  would  do 
for  them."^ 

Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  the  extenuating  circumstances 
connected  with  the  industrial  system,  we  cannot  too  em- 
phatically insist  that  the  Christian  motive  of  service 
plainly  requires  that  the  workers  give  themselves  heartily 
to  the  task  of  efficient  production.  We  should  point  out 
also  the  fallacy  of  the  assumption  that  the  workers  are 
in  the  long  run  protecting  themselves  by  any  limitation 
of  output.  For  curtailed  production,  from  whatever 
cause,  means  an  economic  loss  to  the  comrnunity  and 
therefore  to  the  working  classes  who  constitute  so  large 
a  part  of  the  community.  A  recent  illustration  of  this  is 
the  reported  discontinuance  of  a  large  piano  factory  in 
England  because,  if  the  facts  are  as  reported,  a  force  of 
more  than  a  score  of  men  now  shows  a  smaller  productive 
capacity  than  a  third  of  that  number  showed  a  few  years 
ago.i^  The  greater  the  productivity,  the  greater  the  pros- 
perity for  all.  For  increased  output  means  lower  prices, 
lower  prices  bring  increased  demand,  increased  demand 
means  more  work  and  higher  wages.  Decreased  pro- 
ductivity, on  the  other  hand,  means  higher  prices, 
lowered  demand,  lessened  opportunity  for  work,  and 
lower  wages.    We  are  so  much  members  one  of  another 


""Facing  the  Facts,"  Being  the  Report  of  the  Conference  on 
The  Society  of  Friends  and  the  Social  Order,  London,  1916,  pp. 

56,  57. 
'"'See  the  New  York  Times,  Feb.  6,  1920. 


204        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

that  to  do  unjustly  by  others  is  ultimately  to  harm  our- 
selves. 

The  Christian  employe  will  use  his  influence  to 
promote  honesty  in  the  fulfilment  of  contracts,  always 
insisting  that  agreements  once  entered  into  by  a  labor 
organization  for  a  specified  time  must  be  strictly  and  con- 
scientiously adhered  to.  The  violation  of  such  contracts 
destroys  the  very  foundations  on  which  collective  bar- 
gaining rests  and  makes  it  far  more  difficult  to  secure 
further  agreements  for  the  bettering  of  working  con- 
ditions. If  the  frequent  charge  that  labor  will  not  keep 
its  contracts  be  justified  by  the  facts,  there  is  very  little 
hope  of  labor's  securing  the  needed  support  of  the 
general  public.  The  honor  and  stability  of  labor  or- 
ganizations are  at  stake  in  the  way  in  which  they  fulfil 
their  business  obligations. 

Not  only  in  relations  with  his  employer  but  also  in  his 
relations  with  his  fellow-workers  does  the  Christian  em- 
ploye have  a  special  responsibility.  He  is  committed  to 
the  ideal  of  brotherhood.  He  will,  therefore,  promote  a 
brotherly  attitude,  not  only  toward  the  men  above  him  but 
also  toward  the  foreign  or  colored  laborers  below  him. 
Workers  who  demand  greater  justice  and  a  fuller  degree 
of  cooperation  in  the  management  of  industry  cannot 
consistently  hold  the  attitude  that  they  have  often  taken 
toward  lower  grades  of  labor.  A  recent  convention  of  a 
labor  organization  which  adopted  resolutions  demanding 
a  greater  degree  of  democracy  in  industry  refused  to 
admit  Negroes  to  membership  in  the  union.  Such  action 
is  a  denial  of  labor's  own  ideal.  The  attitude  of  organized 
and  highly  skilled  workers  toward  unskilled  and  foreign 
labor  has  sometimes  been  almost  as  selfish.  The  antago- 
nism of  men  to  women  in  industry  has  also  been  inconsist- 
ent with  any  profession  of  brotherhood.  A  democratic 
fellowship  within  industry  cannot  be  secured  by  em- 
ployers alone.  The  workers  must  themselves  bring  to  it 
an  honest  purpose  to  seek  the  good  of  all  men.     Surely  a 


:i:^ 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  205 

democratic  attitude  within  the  ranks  of  labor  itself  is  an 
indispensable  first  step  in  this  direction.  If  the  rising 
class-consciousness  of  the  workers  is  not  broad  enough  to 
include  the  less  favored  of  their  own  ranks,  there  is  small 
hope  indeed  of  developing  a  consciousness  of  human 
solidarity. 

In  large-scale  industry  the  employes  are  hampered  by 
the  impersonal  character  of  modern  industry,  which 
makes  their  moral  problem  as  difficult,  to  say  the  least, 
as  those  of  the  typical  stockholder  or  director.  In  trans- 
portation approximately  one  hundred  per  cent  of  the 
wage  earners  are  employed  by  corporations;  in  mining 
ninety  per  cent  and  in  manufacturing  seventy-five  per 
cent.  It  is  under  this  form  of  organization  that  the  great 
problems  of  industrial  relations  have  developed.  The 
employer  is  an  absentee  whom  the  workers  have  never 
seen.  Inevitably  they  think  of  their  employers  as  "capi- 
tal," just  as  the  employers  in  such  industries  think  of 
their  employes  as  "labor."  The  system  has  become 
almost  completely  impersonalized.  Furthermore,  the 
Christian  employe  who  is  a  member  of  a  union  organiza- 
tion has  as  much  diffiiCulty  in  controlling  his  labor  leaders 
and  union  committees  as  has  the  individual  stockholder 
in  controlling  his  directors  or  high  officials.  Yet,  how- 
ever difficult  the  situation,  the  individual  workman  can- 
not evade  his  responsibility  any  more  than  can  thci 
stockholder  in  a  corporation. 

Most  of  all  is  it  essential  that  the  workers,  who  now 
possess  but  little,  should  seek  a  higher  aim  than  their  own 
material  advantage  or  class  power.  They  now  criticize 
the  capitalist  and  the  employer  as  self-seeking  and  jealous 
to  maintain  their  power.  If  they  condemn  these  things 
in  the  capitalist,  let  them  beware  lest  they  themselves  fall 
under  the  same  condemnation.  They  must  not  so  act  as 
to  make  it  clear  that,  if  only  they  were  in  the  capitalist's 
place,  they  would  do  exactly  the  things  for  which  they 
now   criticize  him.     This   report  has   insisted   that  the 


2o6         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

majority  of  the  working  class,  for  the  sake  of  their  full 
self -development,  should  have  a  larger  share  in  the  joint 
product  and  in  the  control  of  the  process  which  pro- 
duces it.  But  these  things  are  only  means  to  an  end,  and 
must  not  be  allowed  to  obscure  the  goal  of  a  society  of 
spiritual  personalities  united  by  ties  of  brotherhood. 

4.  Christians  as  Consumers 

Some  Christians  are  employers,  some  are  employes, 
some  are  investors — ^but  all  are  consumers.  And  it  is  the 
consumer  who  is  the  deciding  factor  in  all  business.  The 
shopkeeeper,  the  wholesaler,  the  manufacturer,  the  work- 
man, all  depend  upon  him.  Consumers  could,  therefore, 
if  they  would,  bring  about  great  improvements  in  indus- 
trial conditions.  Yet,  generally  speaking,  the  consumer 
takes  no  responsibility — all  he  does  is  to  pay  the  lowest 
price  he  can  find.  His  demand  for  cheapness,  or  for 
speed,  or  for  special  services  of  various  kinds,  may  even 
be  the  decisive  factor  in  bringing  about  industrial  con- 
ditions that  mean  depriving  the  workers  of  their  right  to 
adequate  income,  health,  and  rest.  Demand  for  "bar- 
gains" is,  in  part  at  least,  responsible  for  sweatshops. 
Thoughtless  delaying  of  Christmas  shopping  till  near 
Christmas  day  means  unnecessary  strain  and  overwork 
for  hosts  of  saleswomen.  Our  insistence  on  uninter- 
rupted service  in  many  lines  robs  millions  of  a  weekly  day 
of  rest.  It  is  not  deliberate  selfishness  that  is  responsible 
for  such  facts  as  these ;  it  is  rather  a  lack  of  the  imagina- 
tion which  would  enable  us  to  see  the  indirect  effects  of 
our  demands.  We  need  to  come  to  a  fuller  realization 
of  the  extent  to  which  our  living  is  bound  up  with  the 
lives  and  fortunes  of  others  in  the  intimate  way  which 
Professor  George  A.  Coe  describes : 

"In  every  bargain  that  I  make,  in  every  article  that  I 
use  or  consume,  I  traffic  in  human  energies  as  well  as  in 
things,  I  relate  myself  to  the  health  and  happiness  of 
men  and  women  whom  I  have  never  seen,  I  take  part  in 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  207 

making  their  children  what  they  become.  To  assume  full 
responsibility  for  these  acts  of  mine,  to  form  a  habit  of 
seeing  society  as  it  is,  and  of  tracing  social  causes  and 
effects,  and  to  think  my  very  own  moral  life  in  com- 
munity terms — these  are  the  rudiments  of  an  awakened, 
mature  Christian  conscience."^^ 

The  Christian  as  a  consumer  will,  therefore,  so  far  as 
he  can,  be  concerned  about  the  labor  conditions  involved 
in  the  production  of  goods  which  he  uses  and  in  the  ren- 
dering of  services  of  which  he  takes  advantage.  It  is,  of 
course,  always  difficult  and  often  impossible  for  a  pur- 
chaser to  distinguish  between  competing  wares,  and 
generally  so  small  a  sum  of  money  is  involved  in  any  one 
purchase  that  the  incentive  to  investigation  is  weak. 
There  is,  however,  at  least  the  opportunity  of  cooperating 
with  other  consumers  in  such  an  organization  as  the  Con- 
sumers' League,  which  investigates  conditions  under 
which  goods  are  produced,  and  so  helping  to  create  a 
public  sentiment  that  will  put  human  values  above  the 
cheapness  of  goods. 

The  Christian  consumer  who  has  the  ability  to  purchase 
luxuries  will  maintain  standards  of  simplicity  in  expendi- 
ture, asking  himself  how  much  he  may  consistently  spend 
upon  himself,  in  view  both  of  the  needs  of  the  many  who 
under  existing  social  conditions  lack  even  the  necessities 
and  of  the  appeals  of  many  worthy  social  causes  for  his 
help.  The  homely  maxim  that  none  ought  to  have  cake 
while  any  lack  bread  is  thoroughly  Christian.  Inequal- 
ities of  possessions  there  will  no  doubt  always  be  so  long 
as  men  have  varying  abilities,  but  self-indulgent  luxury 
side  by  side  with  grinding  poverty  certainly  has  no  place 
in  a  Christian  society.  The  lack  of  brotherhood  involved 
in  needless  extravagance  is  conspicuously  clear  in  the 
case  of  the  few  who  now  spend  ostentatiously  the  war 
profits  that  they  gained  at  the  expense  of  the  nation's 


""A  Social  Theory  of  Religious  Education,"  New  York,  1917, 
p.  103. 


2o8         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

necessity,  while  others  were  laying  down  their  lives  for 
the  common  good.  But  the  same  kind  of  failure  in 
brotherhood  is  manifested  in  all  extravagant  expenditure 
in  a  day  when  there  are  so  many  clamant  human  calls, 
and  when  it  has  become  clear  that  luxuries  and  trivialities 
can  be  produced  only  at  the  cost  of  not  producing  other 
things  that  humanity  needs. 

To  criticize  the  very  rich  for  their  extravagance  is 
easy.  It  is  harder,  but  just  as  important,  to  realize  that 
the  inequality  in  the  distribution  of  wealth,  which  is  re- 
sponsible for  most  of  modern  poverty,  is  partly  caused 
also  by  the  amount  of  wealth  held  by  the  comfortable 
upper-middle  class.  As  to  what  one's  standard  should  be, 
no  one  can  determine  for  another.  We  live  in  varying 
circumstances  and  under  varying  responsibilities.  One 
cannot  suddenly  break  away  from  his  established  order  of 
life  or  cut  himself  off  from  the  society  in  which  his  life 
is  involved.  But  the  ideal  of  "Christian  simplicity"  is 
one  that  needs  constantly  to  be  held  before  us  all.  Ex- 
pensive habits  of  living  create  disastrous  barriers  between 
the  classes  who  can  afford  them  and  the  classes  who  can- 
not. The  words  of  John  Woolman  are  still  pertinent: 
"People  may  have  no  intention  to  oppress,  yet  by  enter- 
ing on  expensive  ways  of  life  their  minds  may  be  so 
entangled  therein,  and  so  engaged  to  support  expensive 
customs,  as  to  be  estranged  from  the  pure  sympathizing 
spirit."^2  Certainly  there  is  so  much  truth  in  Woolman's 
view  that  "luxury  is  the  seed  of  war  and  oppression,"  that 
one  who  is  committed  to  an  ideal  of  brotherhood  cannot 
thoughtlessly  follow  standards  of  expenditure  set  up  by 
others  who  have  never  even  thought  of  determining  their 
lives  in  the  light  of  Christian  principles. 

5.     Christians  as  Citizens 

As  a  citizen  in  the  community  the  Christian,  more  than 
any  other,  should  desire  to  know  the  social  conditions  in 

""Remarks  on  Sundry  Subjects,"   (1773). 


WHAT  CHRISTIANS  CAN  DO  209 

which  his  brothers  live.  But  to  understand  any  social 
situation  in  our  complex  modern  life  requires  serious 
and  deliberate  effort.  He  will,  therefore,  study  our 
social  problems  sympathetically,  .seeking  to  ascertain  the 
underlying  causes  of  poverty,  industrial  conflict,  and 
other  unchristian  aspects  of  our  present  society,  and  to 
discover  constructive  measures  for  bringing  it  into  in- 
creasing conformity  with  the  Christian  ideal.  Realizing 
that  in  the  midst  of  our  present  uncertainty  and  differ- 
ences of  view  we  need,  above  all  things,  untrammeled 
consideration  of  economic,  industrial,  and  political  ques- 
tions, he  will  use  his  influence  to  safeguard  the  right  of 
free  discussion,  without  which  any  thorough-going  study 
or  investigation  is  impossible. 

But  study  is  of  importance  only  as  it  furnishes  a  basis 
for  action.  Some  of  the  steps  toward  a  more  Christian 
order  we  have  considered  in  previous  chapters.  In  every 
case  it  was  clear  that  they  require  collective  action. 
Evils  that  are  produced  by  social  forces  cannot  be  cured 
by  individual  effort  alone.  They  require  the  cooperation 
of  Christian  citizens.  The  direct  responsibility  of  the 
individual  as  a  citizen  appears  most  clearly  in  matters 
that  require  legislation,  for  legislation  is  the  action  of  the 
citizens  themselves  working  through  the  representatives 
whom  they  have  chosen.  Laws  to  safeguard  the  health 
and  safety  of  the  workers,  to  fix  maximum  hours  of  work 
and  minimum  wages,  to  secure  protection  against  old  age 
or  unemployment,  or  other  forms  of  social  legislation 
that  seem  to  lead  to  a  further  application  of  Christian 
principles,  all  depend  both  for  their  enactment  and  for 
their  enforcement  upon  the  strength  of  public  opinion 
which  the  citizens  create.  The  general  welfare  of  the 
community  can  be  furthered  by  the  Government  only  if 
socially-minded  men  and  women  take  an  adequate  inter- 
est in  it. 

Such  legislation  as  seems  to  the  Christian  citizen  to  be 
conducive  to  a  larger  realization  of  the  Christian  goal 


2IO         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

he  will  support,  even  of  it  appears  to  run  counter  to  his 
own  private  interest.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  however, 
legislation  directed  to  the  conservation  of  the  human 
values  imperiled  by  the  impersonal  character  of  modern 
industry  should  be  of  direct  help  to  the  individual 
employer  or  investor  who  is  trying  to  put  his  Christian 
principles  into  practice.  In  a  world  of  unrestricted 
competition  the  Christian  who  experiments  in  a  further 
attainment  of  Christian  standards  may  find  himself 
pushed  from  the  markets  by  unscrupulous  competitors. 
As  citizens  Christians  can  enact  legislation  which  will 
protect  their  fellow-Christians  who  as  individual  em- 
ployers or  investors  undertake  to  act  in  fuller  conformity 
with  the  Christian  ideal. 

Thus  far  we  have  considered  the  particular  responsi- 
bilities of  individual  Christians  as  employers,  investors, 
employes,  consumers,  and  citizens.  The  responsibility  of 
the  individual  Christian  as  a  churchman  remains  for  us 
to  discuss.  This  we  cannot  do  apart  from  a  consideration 
of  what  the  Church  should  do  in  its  corporate  capacity, 
which  will  concern  us  in  the  following  chapter.  But  what 
the  Church  as  an  institution  is  and  does  will  be  de- 
termined in  the  last  analysis  by  the  individual  Christians 
who  compose  it.  The  individual,  therefore,  as  a  church- 
man, has  a  definite  responsibility  to  use  his  influence  to 
secure  such  an  organization  of  the  life  of  the  Church  and 
such  an  administration  of  its  agencies  as  will  most  effec- 
tively hold  up  the  Christian  ideal  and  inspire  its  members 
to  apply  the  Christian  motive  in  all  social  relationships. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  TO  CHRISTIAN- 
IZE THE  INDUSTRIAL  ORDER 

One  of  the  conspicuous  characteristics  of  the  present 
day  is  a  widespread  criticism  of  the  Church.  On  many 
sides  it  is  said  that  the  Church  is  not  sufficiently  ac- 
quainted with  the  things  that  touch  men's  daily  lives 
most  closely;  that  it  is  indifferent  to  social  needs,  or 
if  concerned  about  them  unable  to  make  its  interest 
effective;  that  its  social  outlook  is  unprogressive,  de- 
termined by  those  who  have  themselves  prospered  in 
the  existing  order  and  so  are  blind  to  its  injustices  and 
defects;  that  it  is  unduly  subservient  to  employing  and 
property-owning  interests;  that  Jesus  was  profoundly 
moved  by  the  social  evils  of  His  day  but  that  the  Church 
has  not  appreciated  the  social  significance  of  His  teach- 
ings nor  borne  convincing  witness  to  them;  that  even 
within  the  Church  itself  there  is  a  conspicuous  lack  of  a 
genuinely  democratic  fellowship.  So  the  more  radical- 
conclude  that  the  Church,  like  other  established  institu- 
tions, is  a  bulwark  of  privilege,  an  unthinking  defender 
of  the  status  quo,  while  the  more  sympathetic  critics  re- 
gretfully decide  that,  however  well-intentioned  the 
Church  may  be,  it  is  practically  a  negligible  factor  in  the 
great  task  of  securing  a  better  social  order  in  the  world. 

In  all  this  criticism,  however,  there  is  a  hopeful  side. 
For  it  does  not  come  merely  from  outside  the  Church 
but  also  from  within.  Those  who  owe  their  religious 
life  to  its  nurture,  many  even  of  its  own  ministers  and 
priests,  are  among  the  critics  who  voice  this  dissatisfac- 
tion. Such  self-criticism  is  always  an  encouraging  sign. 
It  means  that  there  is  social  vision  and  vigorous  life 
within  the  Church,  a  conviction  that  it  has  a  real  social 

211 


212         INDUSTIIIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

mission  to  perform  and  a  desire  that  it  should  fulfil  that 
mission  in  the  largest  way.  Even  when  criticism  comes 
from  outside  the  Church  it  is  still  a  hopeful  sign,  for  the 
very  fact  that  the  Church  is  criticized  for  not  doing  what 
men  think  it  should  do  indicates  that  they  have  some 
appreciation  of  the  Church's  Gospel  and  realize  what  a 
social  force  the  Church  may  be. 

We  need  not  raise  the  question  here  whether  the  con- 
tacts of  the  Church  with  the  so-called  "laboring  masses" 
are  growing  stronger  or  weaker.  We  are  not  here 
considering  how  the  Church  can  best  commend  itself  to 
groups  with  which  it  is  now  out  of  touch.  Our  concern 
is  rather  with  the  Church's  responsibility  for  fulfilling  its 
own  proper  mission  and  being  true  to  the  social  implica- 
tions of  its  Gospel.  The  questions  that  we  are  called 
upon  to  answer,  therefore,  are  these:  What  have  men 
and  women  a  right  to  expect  of  the  Church  as  its  dis- 
tinctive contribution  to  the  solution  of  our  industrial 
problems?     How  is  it  to  render  that  service  effectively? 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  inquired  what  in- 
dividual Christians  may  do  in  applying  the  Christian 
motive  to  their  practical  relationships  as  employers,  em- 
ployes, investors,  consumers,  and  citizens.  In  the  present 
chapter  we  are  to  consider  Christian  men  and  women  in 
their  organized  corporate  capacity  as  the  Church.  We 
wish  to  know  how  the  Church  as  a  social  institution 
should  function  for  the  betterment  of  society. 

When  we  raise  the  question  of  the  function  of  the 
Church  in  human  life,  the  general  answer  is  a  very  simple 
but  a  very  far-reaching  one.  As  the  institution  of  re- 
ligion, the  primary  purpose  of  the  Church's  existence  is  to 
bear  witness  to  the  fact  of  God  as  revealed  by  Jesus 
Christ.  This  is  its  distinctive  mission  in  the  world,  as 
compared  with  that  of  other  institutions.  Whatever  else 
the  Church  may  or  may  not  do,  this  is  the  foundation  on 
which  all  its  other  service  to  the  individual  or  to  society 
must  be  built. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  213 

But  we  must  go  further  and  inquire  what  it  means 
to  be  conscious  of  the  kind  of  God  whom  Christian  faith 
sees  revealed  in  the  person  and  work  of  Jesus  Christ.  It 
cannot  mean  simply  a  certain  emotional  attitude  or  in- 
tellectual belief,  which  can  be  detached  from  the  rest  of 
one's  experience.  For  the  Christian,  God  is  One  who  has 
a  definite  purpose  for  mankind,  a  purpose  that  includes 
all  aspects  of  life.  That  purpose  is  the  transforming  of 
human  society  into  what  Jesus  called  the  Kingdom  of 
God,  a  social  order  in  which  all  men,  conscious  of  their 
sonship  to  God,  will  live  with  their  fellows  as  brothers 
and  seek  the  common  good.  To  worship  God,  therefore, 
is  to  commit  oneself  to  this  divine  goal  for  the  whole 
family  of  men.  To  be  truly  aware  of  Him  as  Christ  has 
made  Him  known  is  to  have  a  socialized  outlook  and  a 
socialized  will. 

A  conviction  of  the  reality  of  God  means  also  the 
assurance  that  the  Christian  ideal  of  society  organized 
around  the  principle  of  brotherhood  is  more  than  a 
fanciful  picture  of  what  we  would  like  to  have  if  it  were 
possible.  It  means  that  this  ideal  is  rooted  in  reality,  and 
that  it  is,  therefore,  a  practicable  program  for  mankind. 
Faith  in  God  is  thus  an  immeasurable  dynamic  for  social 
action,  challenging  men  to  share  in  a  task  which  is  not 
merely  of  men's  weak  contriving  but  one  which  humanity 
may  confidently  hope  to  achieve  because  it  is  woven  into 
the  warp  and  woof  of  creation.  It  is  because  we  are 
laborers  together  with  God  that  we  know  that  our  labor 
will  not  be  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 

What  is  involved  in  the  Church's  mission  to  witness 
to  the  fact  of  God  is  only  partially  appreciated.  The 
institution  that  would  interpret  man's  relation  to  God  in 
its  fullness  must  be  interested  in  every  question  that 
affects  personality.  And  since  personality  can  fulfil  it- 
self only  in  a  social  environment,  the  Church  cannot  per- 
form even  its  primary  function  with  any  adequacy  with- 
out including  in  the  range  of  its  interests  all  aspects 


214         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

of  our  social  life — industrial,  economic,  and  political — 
since  all  these  bear  upon  the  development  of  human 
personalities  and  are  a  part  of  that  many-sided  life  which 
the  Church  must  interpret  in  the  light  of  the  fact  of  God 
and  His  purpose  for  the  world. 

In  order  to  discharge  this  function  effectively,  there  are 
three  things  which  the  Church  must  do:  First,  it  must 
win  men  to  the  Christian  social  ideal ;  second,  it  must  help 
men  to  understand  the  present  conditions  to  which  the 
Christian  ideal  must  be  applied ;  third,  it  must  illustrate  in 
its  own  corporate  life  the  social  ideal  that  it  proclaims. 

I.  Winning  Men  to  the  Christian  Ideal 

The  supreme  contribution  which  the  Church  in  any 
age  can  make  to  a  better  social  order  is  to  win  men  to  the 
Christian  ideal.  For  neither  measures  nor  policies  are 
men's  first  need,  but  a  clearly  perceived  goal,  a  vision  of 
what  is  most  to  be  desired  and  sought.  This  the  Church 
has  in  its  Gospel.  The  Kingdom  of  God  gives  us  Jesus' 
picture  of  social  relationships  as  they  ought  to  be.  It 
furnishes  us,  therefore,  with  our  standard  for  judging  the 
things  that  now  are.  The  Church  will  make  its  most 
fundamental  contribution  to  social  betterment  by  inspir- 
ing men  with  a  vision  of  the  social  ideal,  by  creating  in 
them  motives  that  lead  them  to  work  for  its  achievement, 
and  by  keeping  alive  their  faith  that  it  is  attainable. 
The  Church  should  be  the  well-spring  of  social  idealism, 
of  passion  for  brotherhood,  of  the  spirit  of  sacrificial 
service,  because  its  Gospel  reveals  to  men  the  City  of  God 
that  is  being  built  upon  the  earth.  Here  is  the  moral 
dynamic  that  is  the  indispensable  condition  of  genuine 
progress. 

The  Church  possesses  not  only  the  ideal  of  the  social 
goal,  but  also  the  revelation  of  the  way  of  life  that  makes 
its  attainment  possible.^    In  the  life  and  teaching  of  Jesus 


*See  Chapter  I. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  215 

Christ  we  have  found  the  principles  which  would,  if 
applied,  solve  our  social  problems.  It  is  only  as  we  make 
earnest  with  His  teaching  concerning  the  sacred  worth 
of  every  personality,  brotherhood  as  the  primary  rela- 
tionship among  men,  the  obligation  of  mutual  service, 
love  as  the  controlling  motive,  and  faith  in  God  and  in 
humanity,  that  the  problems  of  collective  living  can  be 
fully  solved.  To  make  known  this  way  of  social  salva- 
tion is  the  Church's  unique  part  in  the  building  of  the 
better  world.  Whatever  else  it  may  do  is  incidental  to 
this  fundamental  task. 

To  discharge  this  effectively  it  is  not  enough  to  go  on 
repeating  the  words  of  Jesus  in  a  conventional  way, 
assuming  that  we  already  know  all  that  they  involve.  We 
need  to  re-study  His  Gospel  as  if  we  had  never  done 
so  before,  to  examine  His  simple  teaching  in  a  fresh 
effort  to  lay  hold  for  ourselves  of  more  of  its  present 
implications.  A  recent  memorable  address  well  declared : 
*'The  prime  function  and  duty  of  the  Church  today  are 
not  to  evolve  new  ideas,  but  to  carry  to  their  very  roots 
ideas  with  which  it  has  long  been  familiar.  This  is  the 
kind  of  radicalism  that  we  need  today  and  the  only 
kind.  To  this  degree  every  Christian  preacher  and  dis- 
ciple should  be  a  religious  radical  in  our  modern  world."^ 
A  fresh  and  vital  apprehension  of  the  meaning  of  the 
Christian  Gospel  and  a  confident  and  courageous  procla- 
mation of  that  Gospel — this  is  the  Church's  great  and 
distinctive  contribution  to  the  securing  of  a  better  social 
order.  It  must  truly  understand  and  make  known  the 
height  and  depth  and  length  and  breadth  of  the  love  of 
God  revealed  in  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord.  If  it  will  do  this, 
it  can  inspire  the  social  movement  of  our  day  with 
religious  faith  and  the  spirit  of  sacrifice.  It  can  be  the 
mother  of  hosts  of  social  efforts  that  may  not  be  con- 


-Raymond  Calkins,  "The  Church  and  the  Social  Conscience," 
The  Congregationalist,  Nov.  6,  1919. 


2i6        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

nected  with  its  name,  but  which  are  born  of  it  and 
nourished  at  its  breast. 

If  the  Church  is  to  be  effective  in  winning  men  to  the 
Christian  social  ideal,  both  evangelism  and  religious  edu- 
cation must  be  directed  to  this  end.  We  cannot  hope  to 
Christianize  social  relationships  unless  in  these  two  great 
phases  of  the  Church's  work  we  have  a  definitely  social 
outlook  and  understand  the  social  nature  of  our  goal. 

a.  Social  Evangelism, 

The  field  of  evangelism  is  probably  less  aflfected  by  the 
social  movement  of  the  present  day  than  any  other  great 
phase  of  the  Church's  activity.  Too  often  evangelism 
is  still  contrasted  with  social  service,  as  though  they  were 
entirely  separate,  or  even  mutually  exclusive,  programs. 
The  need  is  urgent  for  what  has  been  well  called  "social 
evangelism.''^  For  evangelism  and  social  service  are 
interdependent,  each  being  the  complement  of  the  other. 
We  must  have  evangelism  because  we  must  win  men 
and  women  to  Christianity.  There  can  be  no  such  thing 
as  a  Christian  "social  order"  except  as  the  men  and 
women  who  live  in  it  are  Christian.  And  we  must  have 
social  evangelism  both  because  the  individual  whom  we 
are  to  reach  is  himself  a  social  being,  placed  in  a  social 
setting,  and  because  the  Christianity  to  which  we  seek  to 
win  him  has  a  definite  social  goal. 

This  means,  in  a  word,  that  men  must  be  evangelized 
as  social  beings.  For  that  is  what  it  means  to  be  a  man. 
The  bare  individual,  as  such,  is  an  abstraction ;  he  exists 
only  in  relationships.  Hence  to  win  men  to  discipleship 
to  Christ  must  mean  to  win  them  to  following  Him  in 
their  social  relationships — in  the  family,  in  their  political, 
and  in  their  industrial  life.  "To  accept  Christ"  must  be 
definitely  made  to  mean  to  accept  Him  as  one's  Master  in 


"See  H.  F.  Ward's  "Social  Evangelism,"  Missionary  Education 
Movement,  New  York,  1915. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  217 

all  one's  social  life.  "To  get  right  with  God"  must  mean 
to  square  oneself  with  His  purpose,  which  is  a  social 
purpose  for  mankind.  We  are  not  proclaiming  the  whole 
Gospel,  if  we  allow  its  social  content  to  be  separated  from 
its  message  to  the  individual  soul. 

And  men  must  be  evangelized  not  only  as  social  beings, 
but  as  social  beings  with  specific  functions  in  society.  If 
they  are  to  be  won  to  discipleship  to  Christ  in  their  indus- 
trial life,  they  must  be  shown  what  it  means  to  follow 
Him  in  the  particular  work  which  they  themselves  have  to 
do.  We  must  therefore  present  the  challenge  of  the 
Christian  Gospel  not  simply  to  men  engaged  in  industry, 
but  to  men  as  employers,  as  investors,  as  merchants,  as 
employes,  in  each  case  interpreting  the  significance  of  the 
Gospel  for  their  own  functions  in  the  social  order. 

Within  certain  limits  Christian  evangelism  has  always 
been  social  in  its  appeal  and  in  its  results.  It  has  appealed 
to  men  along  the  line  of  certain  group  relationships,  par- 
ticularly those  of  the  family.  It  has  uncompromisingly 
declared  that  to  be  a  Christian  meant  sexual  purity,  care 
for  childhood,  the  dignity  of  womanhood,  the  supremacy 
of  love.  And  the  glory  of  the  Christian  family  is  the 
result.  We  must  go  on  to  make  clear  that  to  be  a  Chris- 
tian means  also  a  certain  way  of  life  in  business  and  in 
industry.  Our  evangelism  has  already  had  a  considerable 
part  in  abolishing  the  liquor  traffic,  in  attacking  the  social 
evil,  and  hence  in  securing  more  Christian  communities. 
It  needs  now  to  become  more  conscious  of  its  wider  social 
goal  and  to  aim  with  no  less  definiteness  at  Christian- 
izing all  the  economic  and  industrial  and  political  as- 
pects of  our  community  life.  ^ 

Such  an  evangelism,  social  as  well  as  individual  in  its 
appeal,  will  be  able  to  convince  men  of  sin  and  righteous- 
ness and  judgment.  For  many  the  sense  of  sinfulness 
has  grown  weak  because  our  conception  of  sin  has  not 
enlarged  with  our  expanding  social  life.  We  must  make 
all  unsocial  conduct  appear  as  sin.     We  must  make  men 


2i8         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

feel  their  personal  responsibility  for  the  sins  of  the  com- 
munity against  which  they  have  failed  effectively  ta 
protest.  Men  who  are  conscious  of  personal  probity  and 
rectitude  must  be  led  to  realize  that  they  participate,  often 
unwittingly,  in  corporate  wrongs — in  our  social  injustice,, 
our  poverty,  our  wars,  our  unbrotherly  social  order. 
When  a  man  really  appreciates  his  share  of  responsibility 
in  creating  or  tolerating  such  conditions,  he  will  cry  with 
new  conviction,  ''Lord,  be  merciful  to  me,  a  sinner." 
And  when  we  have  really  set  before  men  the-  Christian 
social  ideal  and  have  shown  them  the  part  they  may  have 
in  securing  it,  we  shall  be  able  to  proclaim  with  new 
power  Jesus'  own  message,  "Repent,  for  the  Kingdom  of 
God  is  at  hand." 

The  implanting  of  the  Christian  social  ideal  is,  how- 
ever, more  than  an  evangelistic  task.  It  is  a  fundamental 
task  of  education.  In  a  general  sense  the  whole  work 
of  the  Church,  evangelism  included,  may  be  regarded  as 
educational,  since  it  is  concerned  with  growing,  develop- 
ing persons.  But  in  a  more  specific  sense  certain  aspects 
of  the  Church's  work  may  be  marked  off  as  directly  edu- 
cational, since  they  deal  with  the  more  immature  members 
of  society  and  employ  special  methods  of  teaching  for  the 
development  of  personality.  It  is  of  education  in  this 
narrower  sense  that  we  are  now  to  speak. 

b.  Religious  Education, 

Few  things  are  more  characteristic  of  the  present  gen- 
eration than  our  enthusiasm  for  education.  Since  the 
war  we  have  come  to  realize  even  more  fully  its  far- 
reaching  effect  upon  society.  Germany  was  a  concrete 
example  of  the  fact  that  the  civilization  of  a  whole 
country  can  be  transformed  by  a  conscious  educational 
process,  even  within  the  limits  of  a  single  generation. 
Japan  also  presents  a  similar  illustration  of  the  power  of 
education  when  it  is  definitely  directed  toward  molding 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  219 

the  rising  generation  along  the  lines  of  a  definite  educa- 
tional program.^ 

Education,  however,  is  not  in  itself  a  solvent  for  our 
social  ills.  Everything  depends  upon  the  type  of  charac- 
ter at  which  the  educational  process  aims.  Unless  it  has 
a  vision  of  the  Christian  ideal  and  is  directed  to  Christian 
ends,  we  may  be  far  worse  off  than  before.  Our  state 
system  of  education  gives  no  place  to  training  in  religion 
and  the  almost  inevitable  effect  is  that  to  the  youth,  who 
are  thus  being  trained  under  the  direction  of  the  state, 
religion  does  not  seem  an  integral  part  of  education. 
Upon  the  Church,  therefore,  rests  the  tremendous  respon- 
sibility of  supplying  the  vital  elements  of  education  that 
our  general  educational  system  does  not  provide.  It 
must  interpret  life  in  terms  of  a  divine  purpose,  must 
develop  personalities  with  Christian  social  vision  and 
wills  directed  to  Christian  social  ends,  ready  to  act  from 
the  Christian  motive  of  seeking  the  common  good.  In 
providing  religious  education,  therefore,  the  Church  is 
not  simply  supplying  a  means  for  its  own  perpetuation. 
It  is  rendering  a  fundamental  community  service,  doing 
what  secular  education  cannot  do  to  lay  the  foundations 
for  a  better  social  order. 

The  problem  of  Christianizing  society  is  at  heart  an 
educational  problem.  Hence  all  the  teaching  agencies  of 
the  Church,  the  pulpit,  the  Sunday  school,  the  young 
people's  societies,  the  religious  press,  must  be  conscious 
of  the  Christian  social  goal,  and  be  directed  to  securing  it. 
When  seen  in  this  light,  how  pitifully  inadequate  our 
present  program  of  religious  education  is  found  to  be. 
The  experience  of  the  war  has  given  us  a  new  disclosure 
of  the  failure  of  the  Church  in  its  teaching  capacity.  In 
the  evidence  of  chaplains  and  others  who  have  been  in 
close  touch  with  that  cross  section  of  average  male 
American  humanity  that  we  called  the  Army,  nothing  is 


*See  Benjamin  Kidd,  "Science  and  Power." 


220        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

more  striking  than  their  almost  unanimous  testimony  con- 
cerning the  widespread  ignorance  of  the  men  as  to  the 
meaning  of  Christianity.  We  are  told,  in  a  way  that 
leaves  little  room  for  doubt,  that  the  average  American 
man  does  not  know  what  we  mean  by  the  Kingdom  of 
God  as  a  social  order  that  is  to  come  upon  the  earth. 
He  does  not  know  that  the  Church  has  a  social  gospel 
and  a  social  mission.  Evidently  the  Church  has  failed  to 
teach  even  those  within  its  own  membership,  to  say 
nothing  of  those  outside  its  doors,  the  social  significance 
of  the  Gospel.^ 

In  any  program  of  education  it  is  the  young  who  pre- 
sent the  great  opportunity,  for  they  are  characterized  by 
a  receptivity  that  diminishes  with  advancing  years.  Those 
who  have  reached  maturity  and  have  become  involved  in 
our  present  business  and  industrial  order  have  had  their 
point  of  view  and  social  habits  already  largely  fixed  by 
the  conditions  in  which  they  then  find  themselves.  The 
young,  therefore,  constitute  our  great  hope  of  securing 
a  Christian  social  order.  But  the  disclosures  of  the 
Army  concerning  the  religious  life  and  ideas  of  American 
men  would  seem  to  indicate  that  one  may  go  to  Sun- 
day school  for  many  years,  and  receive  instruction  in 
the  Bible,  without  ever  coming  really  to  understand  and 
appreciate  the  Christian  way  of  life,  as  opposed  to  other 
ways,  or  being  led  actually  to  practice  it.  Too  often  it 
has  been  considered  that  the  Sunday  school  has  ade- 
quately dealt  with  the  social  problem  simply  by  having  an 
occasional  adult  Bible  class  on  the  social  principles  of 


Tor  fuller  discussion  of  this  subject  see  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  the  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook  entitled  "Rehgion 
among  American  Men ;  as  Revealed  by  a  Study  of  Conditions  in 
the  Army,"  Association  Press,  New  York,  1920.  For  similar 
conclusions  reached  as  a  result  of  a  study  of  the  British  Army  see 
the  report  of  the  interdenominational  committee  convened  by  the 
Bishop  of  Winchester  and  Professor  David  S.  Cairns  entitled, 
"The  Army  and  Religion :  An  Inquiry  and  Its  Bearing  upon  the 
Religious  Life  of  the  Nation,"  London,  1919. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  221 

Christianity.  This  is  merely  playing  with  the  task.  We 
must  deliberately  aim  to  train  children  and  youth  in  habits 
of  unselfishness  and  service  in  their  present  environment, 
and  influence  them  to  apply  the  same  principles  in  the  en- 
larging environment  which  is  progressively  opening  up 
before  them.^ 

In  the  widest  sense,  of  course,  education  is  simply 
another  term  for  the  total  influence  of  social  surround- 
ings upon  the  personality.  The  present  unchristian 
economic  and  industrial  standards  are  part  of  the  sur- 
roundings that  are  influencing  the  formation  of  character. 
In  this  large  view  it  is  clear  that  there  can  be  no  complete 
Christian  education  until  we  have  a  Christian  social  en- 
vironment. All  the  more  important,  therefore,  is  it  that 
in  the  educational  processes  which  we  can  consciously 
control  we  should  use  to  the  full  our  opportunity  for 
modifying  the  existing  unsocial  attitudes.  It  is  through' 
the  saving  influence  of  the  Christian  home  and  the 
Church  that  men  and  women  are  to  be  raised  up  who  will 
be  so  committed  to  the  Christian  way  of  life  that  they  will 
gradually  change  the  existing  economic  environment  into 
conformity  with  the  Christian  ideal. 

Such  a  program  of  religious  education  as  that  of  which 
we  have  been  speaking  can  be  carried  out  only  as  the 
Church  can  secure  trained  leadership.  Hence  the  great 
importance  of  the  theological  seminary.  In  connection 
with  every  institution  for  the  training  of  ministers  there 
should  be  provision  for  courses  which  interpret  the 
present  problems  of  sociology  and  of  economics  in  the 
light  of  Christianity  and  reveal  the  significance  of  the 
Gospel  in  its  application  to  modern  industrial  problems. 


®This  whole  question  of  religious  education  is  to  be  discussed 
in  detail  in  another  report  of  the  Committee  on  the  War  and  the 
Religious  Outlook,  entitled,  "The  Teaching  Work  of  the  Church 
in  the  Light  of  the  Present  Situation."  A  pamphlet  by  Presi- 
dent W.  D.  Mackenzie,  entitled,  "The  Church  and  Religious 
Education,"  issued  by  the  Committee,  treats  the  subject  in  a  pre- 
liminary way. 


222         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

In  the  words  of  Professor  Peabody,  ^'Neither  ethical 
passion  nor  rhetorical  genius  equips  a  preacher  for 
economic  judgments."  If  we  are  to  have  ministers 
capable  of  making  sound  judgments  on  economic  and 
industrial  questions,  we  must  deliberately  provide  train- 
ing to  this  endJ 

To  add  another  department  of  study,  however,  is  far 
from  enough,  for  much  of  our  theological  teaching  is  now 
at  fault  in  conceiving  its  task  as  the  giving  of  instruction 
in  certain  more  or  less  detached  departments  of  knowl- 
edge, instead  of  as  a  single  process  for  training  men  to 
work  for  a  Christian  world.  Our  seminaries  must  not 
merely  impart  instruction  in  various  subjects  and  give  ac- 
quaintance with  the  methods  of  technical  scholarship, 
but  must  give  to  students  a  vital  preparation  for  the 
social  task  before  them.  They  must,  therefore,  make 
clear  what  the  Christian  way  of  life  involves  under 
existing  conditions,  what  a  Christian  society  is,  and  how 
the  knowledge  that  the  students  have  gained  in  various 
courses  is  to  be  used  in  developing  Christian  motives  and 
securing  Christian  community  life. 

The  primary  contribution  of  the  Church  to  securing  a 
better  social  order  we  have  found  to  be  the  holding  up 
of  the  social  ideal.  But  it  is  not  enough  to  proclaim  the 
ideal  in  the  abstract.  Its  significance  becomes  apparent 
only  when  seen  in  its  bearing  on  concrete  conditions  of 
present-day  life.  We  need  to  go  on,  therefore,  to  cou- 
sin this  connection,  compare  the  recommendation  of  a  commit- 
tee appointed  by  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  to  inquire  into 
"the  ways  in  which  the  clergy,  Church-workers  and  Church  peo- 
ple generally  of  England  can  best  cooperate  with  the  state  in  all 
matters  concerning  the  social  life  of  the  community": 

"The  clergy,  before  they  are  ordained,  should  have  received 
a  grounding  in  the  elements  of  economic  and  industrial  problems, 
and  after  they  have  been  ordained  they  should  continually  re- 
*fresh  their  memory  and  increase  their  knowledge  by  keeping 
themselves  up  to  date.  .  .  .  Provision  should  at  once  be  made  in 
or  by  every  theological  college  for  suitable  instruction,  during  a 
period  of  two  terms  at  least,  in  the  history  and  outline  of 
economic  and  industrial  problems,  with  special  reference  to  the  ] 
present  day."  Quoted  in  The  Christian  Work,  March  20,  1920, 
pp.  355,  356. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  223 

sider  the  responsibility  of  the  Church  for  understanding 
the  economic  and  social  situation  in  our  day. 

2.  Promoting  an  Understanding  of  the  Social  Con- 
ditions TO  Which  Christian  Principles  Are 
TO  Be  Applied 

The  principles  of  the  sacredness  of  personality,  of 
brotherhood,  and  of  service  have  little  meaning  till  one 
sees  what  they  signify  in  the  practical  problems  that  he  is 
facing  every  day.  The  Church  must,  therefore,  speak  to 
men  where  they  now  are  and  bring  its  principles  to  bear 
upon  the  life  that  they  are  actually  living.  It  cannot 
Christianize  them  in  isolation  from  their  ordinary  life. 
The  principle  of  personality  has  to  be  applied  in  a  world 
that  still  tolerates  great  human  waste  in  the  piling  up  of 
material  goods.  The  principle  of  brotherhood  has  to  be 
recognized  in  a  society  in  which  there  is  international 
and  industrial  war.  The  principle  of  service  has  to  be 
brought  to  bear  upon  an  economic  order  in  which  the  ob- 
jective is  generally  regarded  as  getting  as  much  for  one- 
self as  one  can.  The  Church  cannot  develop  sensitiveness 
of  social  conscience,  which  is  the  urgent  need  of  the  day, 
unless  it  takes  these  facts  into  account.  We  cannot  effec- 
tively face  the  modern  world  with  the  standards  of  our 
Master  unless  we  know  what  kind  of  a  world  it  is. 

And  the  knowledge  which  the  Church  must  have  in 
order  to  hold  forth  the  Christian  ideal  effectively  must  be 
more  than  a  general  impression  of  the  present  situation. 
It  must  have  a  specific  knowledge  of  economic  and  in- 
dustrial conditions,  a  clear  insight  into  the  problems 
involved,  and  an  intelligent  understanding  of  definite 
proposals  for  betterment.  The  Church  has  in  the  past 
been  too  inclined  to  suppose  that  good  will  is  sufficient. 

[But  the  conscience  needs  guidance  on  particular  ethical 

pproblems  quite  as  much  as  inspiration  to  moral  purpose. 

rWe  need  not  only  good  will  but  knowledge  to  apply  it. 

|ln  the  words  of   the   Reconstruction   Program   of   the 


224        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

British  Labor  Party,  "Good  will  without  knowledge  is 
warmth  without  light." 

It  has  been  well  said  that  "the  Church  has  in  every 
age  done  about  what  it  conceived  to  be  its  duty;  the 
trouble  has  lain  in  its  understanding  of  its  duty."  It 
is  this  failure  really  to  know  the  facts  and  to  keep  pace 
with  the  more  complex  problems  of  modern  life  that  has 
led  many  men  with  a  passion  for  social  service  and 
brotherhood  to  seek  to  realize  their  ends  apart  from  the 
Church.  It  is  this  which  has  kept  the  Church  content 
to  walk  in  paths  already  well  blazed,  to  devote  itself 
to  dispensing  charity  rather  than  to  securing  justice,  to 
relieving  need  rather  than  to  removing  the  causes  that 
made  relief  necessary.  It  has  cared  for  the  sick  and  the 
maimed,  but  has  not  been  concerned  about  securing  work- 
ing conditions  that  would  safeguard  human  values  in  the 
factory.  It  has  fed  the  hungry,  but  has  not  struck  at  the 
industrial  conditions  that  were  chiefly  responsible  for 
poverty.  It  has  established  missions  for  those  who  were 
"down  and  out,"  but  it  has  not  directed  its  energy  to 
modifying  the  system  of  casual  labor  that  every  year 
throws  hundreds  of  thousands  of  men  out  of  work  and 
helps  to  replenish  the  ranks  of  the  "down  and  out"  faster 
than  the  Church  can  rescue  them.  The  problem  of  social 
justice  is  the  one  great  ethical  problem  which  the 
Churches  have  not  seriously  touched.  And  this  has  been 
because  they  did  not  really  understand  the  economic 
forces  that  were  at  work. 

In  the  measure   that   the   Church   truly  understands 
social  conditions  it  will  understand  its  opportunity.     Its 
failure,  for  example,  to  reach  the  labor  movement  more 
directly  has  been  in  large  measure  due  to  its  failure  to 
appreciate    the    significance    of    that    movement.      The  j 
Church  has  generally  condemned  it  as  materialistic,  fail-  i 
ing  to  see  the  genuine  spiritual  undercurrent  that  lay  be- 
neath much  of  the  demand  for  better  wages  and  hours  ! 
and  status.    It  has  not  understood  that,  although  the  im- 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  225 

mediate  and  conscious  objective  of  the  workers  was  more 
material  goods,  they  were  really  craving  these  because 
they  are  the  means  to  more  complete  self-realization  and 
more  abundant  life.  Not  until  the  Church  perceives  this 
fact  will  it  have  a  point  of  contact  for  leading  the  workers 
into  a  fuller  appreciation  of  spiritual  values.  The  Church 
has  also  failed  to  recognize  the  interest  of  the  labor  move- 
ment in  securing  a  greater  equality  of  opportunity  and  a 
more  democratic  fellowship,  as  expressed,  sometimes 
crudely,  in  its  insistence  on  the  right  of  collective  bargain- 
ing. We  have  not  realized  that  labor's  dissatisfaction 
with  an  autocratic  control  is  the  kind  of  dissatisfaction 
that  we  hailed  as  religious  when  it  was  directed  against  its 
political  expression  in  a  Prussian  type  of  government. 
Unless  we  appreciate  the  significance  of  these  democratic 
aspirations  of  labor,  how  can  we  show  that  Christian 
democracy  means  duties  as  well  as  rights,  that  power  to 
control  means  to  the  Christian  not  dictatorship  but 
service,  that  democracy  itself  is  possible  only  on  the  basis 
of  mutual  good  will  and  readiness  to  seek  the  common 
good?  In  all  such  cases,  it  is  only  by  understanding 
what  the  labor  movement  dimly  seeks  that  we  can  make 
it  see  that  it  can  find  in  the  Gospel  to  which  the  Chris- 
tian Church  is  committed  genuine  fullness  of  life.  When 
the  Church  does  thus  appreciate  the  significance  of  the 
organized  efforts  of  the  laboring  group,  then,  and  only 
then,  will  it  be  in  a  position  honestly  to  rebuke  what- 
ever in  them  is  wrong. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  Church  fails  to  be  more  effective 
in  social  betterment  because  of  lack  of  definite  knowl- 
edge of  existing  conditions  and  problems,  one  of  the 
greatest  needs  is  for  organized  research  to  discover  and 
make  known  the  facts.  So  important  is  this  need,  and 
so  largely  neglected,  that  we  shall  here  emphasize  it. 

a.  Organized  Research, 

Since  all  economic,  industrial,  and  political  problems 


226         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

are  also  problems  affecting  the  development  of  spiritual 
personality,  it  is  imperative  that  the  Church  understand 
them.  This  it  can  do  only  by  a  deliberate  effort  in  that 
direction.  There  are  many  research  agencies  concerned 
v^ith  the  technical  aspects  of  industrial  questions,  few  or 
none  that  aim  primarily  to  ascertain  the  right  and  wrong 
of  them  in  their  bearing  upon  human  values.  This,  then, 
is  the  peculiar  sphere  for  the  Church's  research.  When, 
because  of  bias  or  propaganda,  the  facts  in  the  case 
are  not  really  known  it  may  be  necessary  for  the 
Church  to  discover  them.  More  often  the  facts  are 
known  but  need  interpretation  from  the  standpoint  of 
Christian  ethics.  The  Church  must,  to  the  best  of  its 
ability,  tell  the  truth  and  the  whole  truth  about  the  right 
and  wrong  in  all  industrial  conditions  and  relations.  If 
it  be  objected  that  to  do  this  might  mean  that  the  Church 
would  appear  to  be  taking  sides,  we  must  insist  that  not 
to  act  at  all,  tolerating  things  as  they  are,  is  itself  taking 
sides.  Can  we  blame  the  labor  leader  who  said  that  after 
going  to  Church  all  during  a  great  strike  in  which  a 
decent  standard  of  living  was  at  stake,  and  hearing  no 
word  of  reference  to  the  situation,  he  had  concluded  that 
the  Church  was  entirely  indifferent? 

The  need  for  definite  knowledge  and  Christian  inter- 
pretation becomes  particularly  acute  in  time  of  strikes 
and  other  specific  manifestations  of  class  conflict.  At 
such  times  simply  to  publish  the  facts  in  the  case,  to  make 
known  the  conditions  out  of  which  the  conflict  has  arisen 
and  the  ethical  issues  that  are  at  Stake,  is  to  render  an 
important  service.  In  such  times  of  industrial  dispute, 
feeling  runs  so  high  and  prejudices  are  so  strong  that 
the  public  often  fails  to  realize  the  actual  conditions 
and  ethical  issues  involved  unless  some  impartial  body 
carries  out  a  careful  inquiry,  seeking  only  to  know  the 
truth  and  to  see  that  justice  is  done.  But  not  merely  in 
times  of  crisis  is  research  into  industrial  and  social  condi- 
tions needed.     It  is  needed  before  the  trouble  begins, 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  227 

in  order  that  the  causes  that  give  rise  to  hostilities  may, 
so  far  as  possible,  be  removed  by  the  force  of  enlightened 
Christian  opinion. 

Such  systematic  study  cannot  usually  be  carried  on 
adequately  by  a  single  local  church.  Hence  the  need  for 
fully  supported  social  service  commissions  both  denom- 
inational and  interdenominational.  The  denominational 
agency  is  needed  because  its  findings  v^ill  carry  v^eight 
vi^ith  its  own  constituency.  But  a  single  denomination 
cannot  deal  adequately  with  a  social  situation  that  is  of 
nation-wide  significance.  Hence  the  need  for  an  inter- 
denominational social  service  commission,  or  some 
similar  agency,  that  shall  be  properly  supported  by  the 
Churches  and  be  in  a  competent  position  to  carry  on 
research  for  the  Church  as  a  whole.  The  editor  of  the 
American  Journal  of  Sociology  well  summarizes  the 
present  challenge: 

"Whatever  may  be  the  incidents  of  the  next  stage  of 
relations  between  economic  classes,  there  is  little  room 
for  doubt  that  the  issues  will  be  presented  by  the  opposing 
interests  more  or  less  clearly  in  terms  of  ^justice.'  In  so 
far  as  the  churches  come  into  notice  in  connection  with 
these  issues,  each  side  will  demand  that  the  churches 
throw  their  weight  on  the  side  of  'justice,'  as  the  respec- 
tive sides  understand  'justice.'  On  such  a  general  issue 
as  this,  the  churches  will  be  in  a  deplorable  plight  if  they 
are  unable  to  speak,  not  only  positively  and  emphatically, 
but  with  substantial  unanimity.  It  would  be  an  exhibit 
of  pitiful  incompetence  if,  in  this  critical  period,  bodies 
of  the  ability  and  resources  of  the  Protestant  churches 
of  our  northern  states  should  default  their  special  respon- 
sibility for  interpreting  Christian  justice  in  the  circum- 
stances peculiar  to  the  times.  .  .  .  Next  to  fundamentally 
upright  purpose  the  most  essential  prerequisite  to  judicial 
conclusions  is  adequate  information.  ...  It  is  within  the 
power  of  our  churches  to  command  the  information  nec- 
essary to  give  religion  its  appropriate  influence  upon  the 
issues  we  are  discussing.  ...  A  church  which  has  no 
positive  attitude,  no  definite  policy,  toward  the  group  of 
problems  thus  indicated,  can  scarcely  hope  to  impress  men 


228         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

whose  lives  pivot  upon  these  problems  as  dealing  with 
anything  very  close  to  reality."^ 

The  writer  concludes  by  recommending  the  estab- 
lishment  of  "a  permanent  commission  for  investigation 
into,  and  report  upon,  near  and  remote  causes  and  details 
of  any  economic  class  conflicts  .  .  .  not  as  attempted 
arbitrators  but  as  accredited  representatives  of  associated 
churches,  with  the  aim  of,  so  far  as  possible,  exhausting 
all  the  material  facts  in  the  given  case,  especially  those 
which  have  any  appreciable  bearing  upon  principles  of 
justice."  Whether  such  a  formal  commission  be  estab- 
lished or  not,  the  need  of  continued,  patient,  and  well 
organized  research  into  the  ethical  aspects  of  present  in- 
dustrial problems  by  an  expert  agency  of  the  Church  is  a 
fundamental  need.^ 

While  such  central  agencies  are  indispensable,  they  are 
not  in  themselves  sufficient  for  the  Church's  whole  task 
of  research.  The  spirit  of  inquiry  must  be  stimulated 
throughout  the  entire  Church.  Particularly  important  is 
it  that  Church  members  who  belong  to  a  given  economic 
group  should  consider  together  how  the  Christian  prin- 
ciples can  be  carried  further  in  their  application  to  their 
own  economic  field.  An  outstanding  attempt  in  this 
direction  has  been  made  by  the  now  well-known  group 
of  British  Quaker  Employers,  who  came  together  to  con- 
sider their  responsibility  as  at  once  Christians  and 
employers.  The  plan  which  they  have  thus  initiated 
might  well  be  followed  by  similar  groups  of  Christian 
manufacturers,   merchants,   laborers,   bankers,    farmers. 


^Dean  A.  W.  Small,  "The  Church  and  Class  Conflicts,"  Ameri- 
can Journal  of  Sociology,  March,  1919. 

*The  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social  Service  of  the 
Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  is  devel- 
oping a  research  department  that  has  already  done  considerable 
effective  work.  Similar  work  has  lately  been  carried  on  by  the 
Industrial  Relations  Department  of  the  Interchurch  World 
Movement.  The  importance  of  the  social  service  agencies  is 
developed  more  fully  in  a  later  section. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  229 

and  others,  each  seriously  considering  what  is  the  special 
responsibility  of  Christian  men  and  women  engaged  in 
these  various  lines  of  economic  activity.^ ^  If  we  were 
really  to  have  men  seriously  inquiring  as  to  what  Chris- 
tian principles  imply,  not  simply  for  industry  in  general 
but  for  particular  economic  functions,  we  should  have 
powerful  influences  at  work  for  securing  a  better  social 
order. 

For  the  Church  really  to  keep  in  touch  with  industrial 
conditions  and  to  understand  industrial  problems,  how- 
ever, will  require  something  more  than  research  and 
study.  There  must  be  first-hand  contacts  between  the 
Churches  and  the  men  and  women  in  the  ranks  of  in- 
dustry. These  contacts  the  Church  now  has  only  to  a 
pitifully  meager  extent.  The  methods  by  which  wider 
and  more  intimate  contacts  can  be  secured  cannot  be  pre- 
scribed in  any  definite  way,  but  a  brief  mention  of  plans 
that  have  been  found  practically  helpful,  such  as  the 
Church  forum,  the  exchange  of  fraternal  delegates  with 
labor  organizations,  and  the  activities  of  social  service 
commissions,  may  well  be  made. 

6.  The  Church  Forum, 

Within  the  last  few  years  the  Church  forum  has  begun 
to  be  used  as  an  agency  for  discussing  social  questions 
affecting  the  community.  It  affords  an  important  avenue 
both  for  bringing  Church  members  into  closer  touch 
with  conditions  in  the  community  and  with  proposals 
for  social  betterment,  and  for  reaching  unchurched 
groups.  Its  success  has  been  found  to  depend  largely  on 
its  being  what  its  name  implies,  a  genuine  open  forum.    It 


^°For  a  fuller  discussion  of  this  question  see  the  pamphlet  en- 
titled, "Christian  Aspects  of  Economic  Reconstruction,"  written 
by  Herbert  N.  Shenton,  Chief  of  the  Reconstruction  Research 
Division  of  the  Council  of  National  Defense,  and  issued  by  the 
Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook  in  the  series 
of  pamphlets  under  the  general  heading  "The  Religious  Outlook." 


230        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

is  not  a  propagandist  agency,  but  a  platform  for  the  pre- 
sentation and  discussion  of  any  plan  affecting  the  public 
welfare,  an  opportunity  to  hear  all  sides  of  the  question 
and  to  learn  the  facts.  Only  as  there  is  a  spirit  of  fearless 
inquiry  and  freedom  to  express  differing  points  of  view 
can  it  fulfil  the  distinctive  purpose  for  which  it  exists. 

Such  a  forum  may  often  seem  to  deal  with  problems 
not  directly  connected  with  the  Church.  But  it  is  better 
to  discuss  any  social  question  in  the  atmosphere  of  re- 
ligion than  in  an  atmosphere  entirely  apart  from  religion. 
And  there  is  always  an  opportunity  for  members  of  the 
Church  to  interpret  the  problem  under  discussion  from 
the  standpoint  of  Christianity.  In  this  way  the  message 
of  Christianity  may  indirectly  be  brought  home  to  the 
minds  and  hearts  of  many  who  are  not  reached  by  the 
usual  services  held  under  the  auspices  of  the  Church. 

The  significance  of  the  Church  forum  has  been  well 
summarized  by  the  minister  of  the  Broadway  Tabernacle 
in  New  York,  in  closing  a  recent  series  of  sermons :  "It 
is  the  urgency  of  social  and  industrial  problems  which 
explains  the  rise  and  progress  of  the  Church  forum. 
Church  leaders  are  coming  to  see  everywhere  that  we 
must  have  discussion  meetings,  as  well  as  meetings  for 
Bible  study  and  worship.  The  Sunday  school  came  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century  in  response  to  a 
crying  need.  The  forum  has  now  arrived  because  we 
cannot  well  get  on  without  it.  The  time  has  come  when 
in  all  our  large  city  Churches  the  forum  will  be  con- 
sidered every  whit  as  important  as  the  Sunday  school.''^^ 


"The  Ford  Hall  forum  in  Boston,  organized  by  the  Boston 
Baptist  Social  Union,  is  one  of  the  best  known  communitj- 
forums  in  the  country.  Of  the  forums  carried  on  under  the 
auspices  of  a  congregation,  that  of  the  Church  of  the  Ascension 
in  New  York  is  one  of  the  best  known.  For  further  informa- 
tion concerning  the  forum  plan  address  George  W.  Coleman, 
president  of  the  Open  Forum  National  Council,  80  Boylston 
Street,  Boston,  or  The  Commission  on  the  Church  and  Social 
Service  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America,  105  East  22nd  Street,  New  York. 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  231 

! 
r.  Fraternal  Relations  with  Labor  Organisations, 

The  general  impression  held  by  many  labor  leaders  that 
the  Church  and  its  ministers  have  no  real  concern  for 
working  men  is  due  in  large  measure  not  to  the  indiffer- 
ence of  the  ministers,  but  to  the  fact  that  they  do  not 
know  how  to  find  practical  contacts  with  the  workers. 
That  such  contacts  are  needed  in  order  to  develop  ac- 
quaintance, appreciation  of  each  other's  ideals,  and 
mutual  understanding  is  obvious,  but  how  are  the  points 
of  contact  to  be  had? 

A  plan  that  has  been  found  of  practical  value  is  the 
sending  of  fraternal  delegates  by  Churches  or  Church 
assemblies  to  labor  union  meetings  covering  correspond- 
ing areas.  The  courtesies  thus  extended  by  Churches  in 
sending  representatives  to  the  labor  unions  have  often 
been  cordially  reciprocated  by  the  labor  conventions' 
sending  their  own  representatives  to  the  Churches.  This 
plan,  frequently  tried  both  by  denominational  assemblies 
and  by  the  Federal  Council  of  Churches,  has  served  to 
further  the  desired  end  of  better  mutual  acquaintance  and 
understanding.^^ 

The  fraternal  delegate  has  a  unique  opportunity  to 
express  to  the  workers  his  own  interest  in  their  problems 
and  the  interest  of  the  religious  body  that  he  represents. 
This  may  go  far  toward  removing  misunderstandings 
concerning  the  Church's  real  motive  and  attitude  on  the 
part  of  working  people,  as  well  as  the  uninformed  preju- 
dices of  the  Church  against  organized  labor.  The  pres- 
ence of  a  representative  of  the  Church  at  the  councils  of 
labor  is  generally  heartily  welcomed,  since  his  participa- 
tion in  their  deliberations  is  an  assurance  to  the  public 


"Opportunities  of  contacts,  not  only  with  labor  organizations 
but  also  with  other  groups  may  wisely  be  sought.  Chambers  of 
Commerce,  Rotary  Clubs,  and,  more  particularly,  organizations 
of  social  workers  such  as  the  Consumers*  League  and  the  Na- 
tional Child  Labor  Committee,  all  afford  opportunities  for  fuller 
understanding  of  social  conditions  and  cooperation  in  meeting 
social  needs. 


232        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

that  their  proposals  are  of  a  worthy  character.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  Church  is  afforded  an  unusual  oppor- 
tunity to  gain  insight  into  the  significance  of  the  labor 
movement  and  to  appreciate  its  endeavors  to  better  in- 
dustrial conditions  and  to  attain  a  status  of  self-respect  in 
industry. 

Although  the  fraternal  delegate  to  a  labor  union  con- 
vention will  usually  not  feel  free  to  make  a  direct  evan- 
gelistic appeal,  he  has  a  genuine  opportunity .  for  great 
religious  influence.  His  own  personal  character  and 
his  interest  both  in  religion  and  in  the  bettering  of  the 
social  order  may  go  far  toward  bringing  to  the  workers 
a  new  conception  of  the  significance  of  the  Church  and 
of  their  own  need  of  religion. 

d.  Social  Service  Commissions, 

If  this  report  is  right  in  its  interpretation  of  the  sig- 
nificance of  Christianity  for  our  modern  social  life,  the 
importance  of  well-supported  and  effective  social  service 
commissions  or  similar  agencies  in  the  Churches  can 
hardly  be  exaggerated.  We  have  ^already  referred  to  the 
necessity  for  such  organizations,  in  order  to  carry  on 
thorough  study  of  industrial  problems  to  which  Christian 
principles  are  to  be  applied.  Such  commissions  also 
afford  a  means  for  educating  the  Church  in  its  social 
responsibility.  They  provide  natural  points  of  contact 
with  organized  labor,  expressing  to  the  labor  movement 
the  interest  of  the  Church  in  all  problems  affecting  human 
welfare  and  destiny,  and  helping  to  lead  the  Church  into 
a  fuller  appreciation  of  the  aims  and  ideals  of  the  labor 
movement.  Most  important  of  all,  they  are  a  concrete 
visible  embodiment  of  the  Church's  vital  concern  for 
securing  more  Christian  social  relationships  and  a  social 
order  based  on  justice  and  brotherhood. 

All  the  important  tasks  of  the  Church  need  specialized 
agencies.  We  do  not  assume  that  the  task  of  carrying 
the   Christian   Gospel  to   other  lands  will  be  achieved 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  233 


without  the  building  up  of  missionary  organizations  for 
Ihis  purpose.  No  more  can  we  expect  that  the  fuller 
application  of  the  Gospel  to  wider  areas  of  our  social  life 
will  be  realized  without  a  similar  deliberate  effort  to 
promote  the  movement  in  the  Church. 

Yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  our  social  service  commissions 
are  among  the  most  poorly  supported  agencies  of  the 
Church.  The  work  that  they  have  done  has  usually  been 
the  result  of  the  devotion  of  a  few  men,  rather  than 
of  the  rank  and  file  of  the  Church.  In  spite  of  these 
limitations,  the  educational  value  of  the  social  service 
commissions  has  been  very  great.  Their  value  and  sig- 
nificance have  been  abundantly  demonstrated  and  claim 
from  the  Church  a  more  hearty  and  generous  recognition 
than  they  have  yet  begun  to  receive. 

But  any  social  service  commission,  however  well  or- 
ganized, can  achieve  significant  results  only  to  the  degree 
that  it  is  really  representative  of  the  spirit  of  the  Church 
itself.  If  we  are  most  effectively  to  hold  up  the  Christian 
ideal,  it  must  be  embodied  in  the  life  of  the  whole  Church. 
The  Word  must  become  flesh  and  dwell  among  us  if  men 
are  to  behold  its  glory.  That  which  has  given  the  Chris- 
tian ideal  its  power  has  always  been  its  incarnation  in 
Jesus  Christ.  So  today  its  greart  appeal  must  be  through 
its  incarnation  in  the  Church  as  the  corporate  body  of 
Christ.  We  need,  finally,  to  consider  the  ways  in  which 
the  Church  in  its  own  life  as  an  institution  can  illustrate 
the  working  out  of  the  social  ideal  that  it  proclaims. 

3.    Illustrating    the     Christian     Idfal     in     the 
Churches  Corporate  Life 

The  extent  to  which  the  Church  as  an  institution  shall 
itself  engage  in  practical  activities  of  social  betterment 
is  one  which  cannot  be  answered  by  a  generalization. 
This  must  necessarily  be  determined  in  large  measure  by 
the  special  conditions  in  which  a  given  church  finds  itself. 
Every  local  church  should  have  its  own  forms  of  social 


234         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

ministry,  which  it  carries  on  in  the  interest  of  the  com- 
munity welfare,  and  the  particular  conditions  in  certain 
communities  may  lay  upon  the  Church  the  responsibility 
for  a  great  program  of  practical  service.  Certainly  if 
there  are  human  needs  which  are  not  being  met  by  other 
agencies,  they  present  to  the  Church  a  clear  call  either  to 
undertake  a  program  of  special  effort  in  its  own  name 
or  to  see  that  other  means  of  meeting  the  need  are  called 
into  being. 

The  distinctive  function  of  the  Church,  however,  in 
the  securing  of  a  better  social  order  does  not  lie  in  a 
multitude  of  independent  administrative  efforts,  but  in 
being  the  never-ceasing  inspiration  of  such  efforts  by  all 
Christian  men  in  their  various  capacities  as  employers, 
employes,  or  socially-minded  citizens.  The  Church 
should  by  its  preaching  so  effectively  hold  up  the  Chris- 
tian ideal,  and  make  so  clear  what  is  involved  in  its  appli- 
cation to  the  existing  social  conditions  of  the  present  day, 
that  it  will  be  constantly  sending  out  its  members  to  give 
themselves  whole-heartedly  to  social  betterment  and  thus 
be  the  great  dynamic  of  a  host  of  practical  endeavors 
toward  a  more  Christian  society. 

In  downtown  centers  in  most  of  our  industrial  cities 
there  is  beyond  question  a  tremendous  need  for  strong, 
well-equipped,  highly  socialized  churches.  The  present 
failure  of  the  Church  to  touch  industrial  groups  more 
effectively  is  due,  in  considerable  part  at  least,  to  the 
failure  of  the  Churches  to  go  where  the  workers  are.  The 
Churches  have  tended  to  move  away  from  the  areas  of  the 
cities  where  the  working  people  live  to  the  more  attractive 
residential  sections.  It  therefore  comes  about  that  when 
the  laboring  classes  are  reached  by  organized  religious 
forces  at  all,  it  is  often  only  through  some  unattractive 
mission  or  chapel  on  a  side  street,  with  no  facilities  for 
ministering  to  community  needs.  Under  such  conditions 
it  is  small  wonder  that  the  Church  does  not  reach  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  working  people,  and  that  they  feel  the 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  235 

Church  is  too  much  concerned  with  the  prosperous  and 
dominant  classes  of  society  to  embody  very  effectively  the 
spirit  of  the  Master.  The  situation  clearly  calls  for  the 
establishment  of  well-supported,  democratically  organ- 
ized, and  serving  churches  in  congested  neighborhoods, 
led  by  men  with  social  vision  who  appreciate  the  aims  of 
the  labor  movement  and  are  ready  to  cooperate  with  its 
efforts  to  secure  living  wages,  reasonable  hours,  and  a 
better  status  in  industry.  Such  churches  should  repre- 
sent all  churches  in  the  city  and  be  the  channel  through 
which  their  common  interest  is  expressed. ^^ 

Not  only  the  individual  churches  but  also  the  denom- 
inations in  their  organized  capacity  have  ways  in  which 
they  can  illustrate  their  own  ideals.  Most  of  the  de- 
nominational organizations  carry  on  business  activities  on 
a  considerable  scale.  They  are  often  employers  of  hun- 
dreds of  men  and  women,  particularly  in  building  enter- 
prises and  printing  establishments.  They  are  also  in- 
vestors of  large  funds.  In  each  of  these  fields  the 
Church  has,  therefore,  a  magnificent  opportunity  to  set 
an  example  of  the  application  of  Christian  principles  to 
business,  which  will  not  only  reveal  to  men  the  sin- 
cerity of  the  Church's  professions,  but  also  serve  as  a 
model  for  imitation  by  others. 

As  an  employer  the  Church  can  and  should  stand 
heartily  for  the  right  of  labor  to  organize  and  bargain 
collectively  as  a  means  of  bettering  working  conditions. 
Unless  the  Church  is  to  do  this,  it  is  futile  for  it  to  make 
commendable  pronouncements  on  industrial  problems. 
Whatever  ground  there  is  for  the  charge,  sometimes 
heard  in  labor  circles,  that  the  Church  is  an  unsatisfactory 
employer  ought  to  be  removed  once  for  all.     Moreover, 


^'The  Labor  Temple  in  New  York  City,  maintained  by  the 
Presbyterian  Board  of  Home  Missions,  is  a  well-known  example 
of  such  a  church.  In  this  conection  William  P.  Shriver's  mono- 
graph on  "The  New  Home  Mission  of  the  Church,"  issued  by 
the  Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook,  is  signi- 
ficant. 


236         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


the  Church  might  well  experiment  further  than  other 
employers  in  the  democratic  organization  and  manage- 
ment of  industry.  It  would  thus  convince  labor  of  its 
genuine  concern  for  a  better  status  for  industrial  workers 
and  might  prove  a  pioneer  in  effort  to  secure  an  organiza- 
tion of  industry  that  will  be  more  consonant  with  the 
Christian  ideal  of  brotherhood. 

As  an  investor  of  funds  the  Church  has  another 
opportunity,  particularly  in  these  days  of  great  financial 
campaigns,  to  set  new  standards  by  making  its  first  con- 
sideration not  the  size  of  the  financial  return  from  the 
investment,  but  the  extent  to  which  it  ministers  to  social 
welfare.  The  Church  may  even  be  called  upon  to 
accept  a  lower  rate  of  interest  for  the  sake  of  encourag- 
ing projects  of  distinct  social  utility.  Certainly  it  should 
deliberately  refuse  to  accept  dividends  that  should  go  into 
better  tenements,  higher  wages,  or  better  conditions  of 
labor.i^  The  comment  of  a  distinguished  economist 
upon  the  discovery  that  a  church  in  New  York  was  deriv- 
ing a  part  of  its  revenues  from  the  ownership  of  un- 
satisfactory tenement  houses  is  pertinent :  ''When  those 
charged  with  funds  to  further  the  mission  of  Christ  can 
permit  them  to  be  invested  in  insanitary  and  immoral 
tenements,  not  much  regard  for  public  welfare  is  to  be 
expected  from  ordinary  investors."^^ 

When  all  is  said  and  done,  it  remains  true  that  what- 
ever else  the  Church  may  do  to  secure  the  adoption  of 
Christian  principles  in  social  relationships,  its  greatest 
opportunity  in  this  direction  lies  in  actually  being,  in 
its  own  corporate  life,  the  kind  of  a  brotherhood  which 
it  proclaims  as  the  social  ideal.  If  it  is  not  itself  a  truly 
democratic  fellowship,  it  will  have  pitiably  small  influence 
in  securing  a  brotherly  fellowship  in  the  world  at  large. 

"For  fuller  discussion  of  this  subject  see  the  pamphlet  entitled 
"Christian  Principles  and  Industrial  Reconstruction,"  written  by- 
Bishop  Francis  J.  McConnell  and  published  by  the  Committee 
on  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook. 

^^H.  R.  Seager,  "Introduction  to  Economics,"  p.  251. 


I 


J 


WHAT  THE  CHURCH  CAN  DO  237 

A  group  of  our  fellow-Christians  in  England  have  well 
summarized  this  challenge  to  the  Church : 

"The  Church  ought  to  be  distinguished  from  the  world 
by  the  type  of  common  life  into  which  her  members  are 
drawn,  a  life  of  simplicity  and  discipline,  of  practical 
fellowship  and  brotherhood,  in  which  the  joyous  and 
affectionate  atmosphere  of  a  Christian  family  is  extended 
to  the  congregation  worshiping  at  a  common  altar,  and, 
beyond  that,  to  the  whole  body  of  the  Church.  This 
must  be  her  challenge  to  the  present  social  order — no 
more  denunciation  of  wrong,  but  the  exhibition,  in  the 
communities,  of  men  and  women  worshiping  in  her 
Churches,  of  the  power  of  Christianity  to  establish  a 
new  earthly  relationship,  reflecting  a  spiritual  unity  which 
transcends  all  social  distinction  of  class  or  wealth. 
Through  such  a  divine  esprit  de  corps  she  will  convince 
the  world  of  the  presence  of  Christ  in  His  Church  and 
will  rebuke  by  life  as  well  as  by  word  the  social  in- 
justices unworthy  of  a  Christian  nation."^^ 

If  the  Church  is  itself  to  incarnate  its  social  ideal,  it 
must  also  be  characterized  by  the  spirit  of  freedom  which 
we  have  found  to  be  inseparable  from  the  Christian 
method  of  social  betterment.  The  Church  has  always 
declared  that  "where  the  spirit  of  the  Lord  is,  there  is 
liberty."  This  must  be  true  of  its  attitude  toward  social 
questions.  In  its  fellowship  there  are,  and  will  continue 
to  be,  men  and  women  united  in  loyalty  to  the  Christian 
social  ideal  but  holding  widely  divergent  views  con- 
cerning practical  procedure.  The  Church  itself,  in  its 
corporate  capacity,  cannot  tie  itself  to  any  formal 
economic  program.  But  within  the  Church  there  must 
be  full  freedom  for  individuals  to  champion  the  par- 
ticular points  of  view  and  to  work  for  the  particular  pro- 
grams that  they  believe  to  be  wise  and  right.  Within  its 
fellowship  there  must  be  room,  therefore,  for  the  more 
radical  and  prophetic  spirits  whose  acceptance  of  the 
Christian  ideal  leads  them  to  espouse  a  more  extreme 

'"Archbishops'    Third    Committee    of    Inquiry,    entitled    "The  ' 
Evangelistic  Work  of  the  Church,"  London,  1918. 


238         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


program  than  most  of  their  fellow-Christians  are  now 
ready  to  follow.  However  divergent  their  judgments 
as  to  practical  ways  and  means,  those  who  profess  the 
Christian  faith  are  bound  together  by  loyalty  to  a  com- 
mon goal.  One  is  their  Master,  even  Christ,  and  hence 
they  all   alike  have  a  place  within  the  Christian  family. 

And,  finally,  the  Church  that  in  its  own  life  would  fully 
illustrate  the  Christian  social  ideal  must  recognize  its  own 
unity  and  find  ways  to  give  it  practical  expression.  A 
divided  Church  cannot  convince  the  world  of  the  oneness 
of  humanity.  If  human  solidarity  be  the  Christian  goal, 
surely  the  Church  first  of  all  must  incarnate  that  ideal  in 
its  own  corporate  life.  How  else  can  it  bear  full  witness 
to  the  one  God  whose  purpose  all  the  Churches  seek  to 
realize?  How  else  can  it  bring  the  ideal  of  Jesus  effec- 
tively to  bear  upon  the  conscience  of  the  world  ? 


■ 


APPENDIX  I 

THE  HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH 
TO  ECONOMIC  QUESTIONS 

REV.  FRANK  M.  CROUCH 

I.    The  Economic  Teaching  and  Practice  of  the 
Early  Church 

Just  how  poor  Jesus  and  the  original  twelve  were  has 
long  been  a  matter  of  controversy.  Whether,  as  some 
commentators  maintain,  on  the  acknowledged  basis  of 
several  statements  of  his  own,  he  and  his  disciples  lived 
a  practically  hand-to-mouth  existence,  or  whether,  as  has 
been  maintained  on  the  basis  of  other  passages  in  the 
gospel  story,  they  were  not  actually  below  the  poverty 
line^ — to  use  our  modern  terminology — it  is  clear  that  the 
original  Messianic  community  which  grew  up  in  Jeru- 
salem after  the  Ascension  could  not  have  been  super- 
abundantly endowed  with  this  world's  goods. 

Consider  the  situation.  The  earliest  evangelistic 
efforts  of  the  apostles  were  carried  on  at  a  time  when  the 
population  of  the  Holy  City  was  reenforced  by  the  annual 
increment  represented  by  the  pilgrims  arriving  at  the 
religious  capital  for  the  celebration  of  their  deliverance 

*The  controversy  on  this  point  especially  involves  what  some 
critics  have  called  the  "Ebionitic"  character  of  the  Third  Gospel 
— with  its  evident  animus  against  wealth  and  the  wealthy,  as 
evidenced  by  the  episode  of  the  rich  young  ruler  and  by  the 
drastic  form  of  the  first  beatitude  ("Blessed  are  ye  poor,"  in 
contrast  with  Matthew's  "Blessed  are  the  poor  in  spirit'')  y  and 
in  favor  of  the  dispossessed  classes.  Was  this  Ebionitic  element 
an  "importation,"  under  the  influence  of  the  Jewish-Christian 
cult  of  poverty,  which  affected  one  section  of  the  converts  to  the 
new  faith,  or  an  original  element  of  the  Gospel?  It  is  significant 
that  all  the  Synoptists  give  the  pertinent  logion:  "It  is  easier  for 
a  camel  to  go  through  the  eye  of  a  needle  than  for  a  rich  man  to 
enter  the  kingdom  of  God" — which  recent  commentators  are  dis- 
posed to  interpret  in  a  less  metaphorical  sense  than  has  long  been 
the  fashion — as  also  "Sell  that  which  thou  hast  and  give  to  the 
poor"  (Matt.  19:21,  Mark  10:21,  Luke  18:22,  12:33).  Two  of 
the  Synoptics  also  contain  the  logion:  "The  Son  of  man  hath  not 
where  to  lay  his  head"  (Matt.  8:20,  Luke  9:58). 

239 


240        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


from  Egypt.  The  fact  that  so  many  Jews  of  the  Dis- 
persion came  from  what  must  have  been,  in  that  day, 
considerable  distances,  and  at  considerable  expense, 
would  seem  to  indicate  that  these  particular  devotees  had 
some  surplus  income,  yet  the  analogy  of  modern  religious 
pilgrimages  should  be  sufficient  to  prove  beyond  reason- 
able doubt  that  a  large  proportion  of  these  returning  Jews 
must  have  made  considerable  financial  sacrifice  for  the 
purpose.  In  many  instances,  doubtless,  they  pledged  their 
household  goods,  and  in  other  cases  trusted  to  the  help  of 
the  faithful  along  the  pilgrim  route.  It  was,  it  must 
always  be  remembered,  as  much  from  the  ranks  of  these 
expatriates  and  from  those  living  in  the  outlying  regions 
of  Palestine,  as  from  the  resident  population  of  Jeru- 
salem, that  the  recruits  of  the  new  religion  came.  From 
the  very  nature  of  the  case  many  of  these,  transported 
by  their  enthusiasm,  made,  like  the  apostle  Paul,  sub- 
stantially a  clean  break  with  their  former  lives  and  liveli- 
hood and  settled  down  in  Jerusalem  to  learn  more  of  the 
new  teaching  and  to  give  practical  proof  of  their  soli- 
darity with  the  blessed  company  of  all  faithful  people. 
Though  many  of  these  no  doubt  found  work  in  their  new 
habitat,  yet  it  is  evident  that  there  must  have  been  some 
difficulty  in  their  industrial  absorption,  and  probably 
many  of  the  recent  converts  from  the  ranks  of  the  Dis- 
persion were  unable  to  secure  employment. 

It  is  these  considerations  which  give  significance  to  the 
two  experiments  recorded  in  the  early  chapters  of  the 
Book  of  Acts — the  holding  of  all  things  in  common  and 
the  appointment  of  the  seven,  who  by  earlier  com- 
mentators were  inaccurately  identified  with  the  later 
diaconate.  It  has  long  been  the  fashion,  at  least  until 
recently,  to  depreciate  the  former  of  these  expedients  and 
to  assume,  on  a  priori  economic  grounds,  that  this  tenta- 
tive practice  of  Christian  communism  must  necessarily 
have  been  of  short  duration.  Whether  the  obvious  lapse 
of  the  experiment,  however,  is  to  be  explained  in  this  way 


I 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  241 

or,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a  result  of  the  later  corruption 
of  the  faithful  is  a  matter  with  which  we  need  not  here 
concern  ourselves.  The  fact  is,  as  the  biblical  records 
show,  that  these  early  Christians  did  pool  their  resources, 
frankly  accepting  as  their  economic  program,  "From 
each  according  to  his  ability,  to  each  according  to  his 
need." 

To  say  that  this  practice  on  the  part  of  the  early 
Church  is  to  be  explained  largely  through  the  preoccupa- 
tion of  the  primitive  Christian  community  with  the 
imminent  Second  Coming  of  their  Lord  is  perhaps  to 
bring  a  more  serious  objection  against  the  validity  of  the 
experiment  for  the  modern  Church.  When,  such  critics 
point  out,  the  Church  lost  its  original  Messianic  char- 
acter, ceased  to  believe  in  the  imminent  return  of  Christ, 
and  settled  down  into  a  family  Church,  whose  members 
married  and  gave  in  marriage  and  in  process  of  time 
brought  their  children  into  their  own  membership,  neces- 
sarily the  spontaneous  surrender  of  individual  posses- 
sions had  to  be  revoked  in  favor  of  a  common  sense 
economic  program.  These  critics,  however,  leave  out  of 
consideration  the  very  drastic  comment  made  upon  the 
institution  of  private  property  by  the  most  representative 
leaders  and  fathers  of  the  early  Church  up  to  and  even 
through  the  Nicene  period.  Such  teachers  as  Clement 
of  Alexandria,  Chrysostom,  Ambrose,  Lactantius,  and 
their  medieval  successors,  with  some  qualifications,  main- 
tained that  the  institution  of  private  property  is  inde- 
fensible. A  frequent  term  applied  to  private  property  by 
the  Latin  fathers  was  usurpatio — robbery.^     The  com- 


^Readers  who  wish  some  of  the  loci  classici  on  this  point  are 
referred  to  the  Ante-Nicene  and  Post-Nicene  Fathers  (English 
translation),  passim;  Conrad  Noel,  "Socialism  in  Church 
History,"  Ch.  IV  (Milwaukee,  191 1)  ;  Bishop  Charles  Gore,  et  a/., 
"Property;  Its  Duties  and  Its  Rights,"  Ch.  IV  (London,  1915)  ; 
The  Report  of  the  Archbishops'  Fifth  Committee  of  Inquiry  on 
"Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  Ch.  Ill  (London,  1918)  ; 
Boehm-Bawerk,  "Capital  and  Interest,"  (English  translation, 
1890)   Chap.  I. 


242         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

mon  refrain  of  these  and  other  Church  leaders  was  that 
God  had  made  all  things  in  common  for  all  men,  that  the 
earth  was  the  Lord's  and  the  fullness  thereof — for  the 
benefit  of  His  creatures.^ 

That  personal  wealth  was  viewed  by  at  least  some  early 
Church  leaders  as  the  root  of  all  evil  is  patent  to  the 
modern  reader  who  reads  what  St.  James  has  to  say  with 
reference  to  the  rich  men  whom,  because  they  dared  to 
thrust  themselves  into  the  front  pews  and  oust  their 
poorer  brethren,  he  bids  "go  howl/'  The  "intrusion  of 
riches"  is  in  fact  the  burden  of  a  great  part  of  this  par- 
ticular epistle.  Its  writer  views  private  wealth  as  tend- 
ing to  negate  the  original  unity  and  coherence  of  the  early 
Christian  household,  and  sees  in  the  rich  pewholder  a 
menace  to  the  continued  integrity  of  the  newly  established 
religion. 

As  a  counterbalance  to  this  theory  of  the  early  Church 
that  property  was  meant  not  for  individual  enjoy- 
ment but  for  social  utility,  may  be  set  another  theory 
of  the  same  Church — namely,  that  idleness  and  vaga- 
bondage, social  sycophancy  or  parasitism,  had  no  place  in 
the  Christian  economy.  "He  who  will  not  work  neither 
let  him  eat"  was  a  Pauline  dictum  which  found  an  echo 
in  the  famous  Didache  (Teaching  of  the  Twelve 
Apostles)  and  in  other  utterances.^  Every  able  bodied 
Christian  was  expected  to  find  an  occupation  which 
would  enable  him  both  to  support  himself  and,  if  passible, 
to  have  some  surplus  to  contribute  to  the  needs  of  his  less 


^In  the  Middle  Ages,  as  we  shall  see,  this  doctrine  was  some- 
what mitigated  in  effect  by  concessions — on  the  part  of  repre- 
sentative canonists  and  theologians  of  the  Church — allowing  a 
limited  amount  of  private  property  in  view  of  the  weakness  of 
the  flesh.     See  Sections  II  and  III  below. 

*So  common  did  the  practice  of  what  may  be  called  "Chris- 
tian parasitism"  become  that  it  was  found  necessary  for  bishops 
to  issue  letters  of  recommendation  of  visitors  to  neighboring 
churches.  If  a  Christian  "traveler"  could  not  produce  his 
credentials  he  could  not  claim  hospitality  or  support  by  the  local 
congregation  for  more  than  three  days.  See  the  Didache,  Chs, 
XI-XIII. 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  243 

fortunate  brethren.  As  the  Master  of  them  all  had  been 
a  carpenter,  and  the  great  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  a  tent- 
maker,  glorying  in  his  capacity  for  self-support,  so  the 
vast  majority  of  the  rank  and  file  of  Christendom  in 
these  early  days  were  manual  toilers.  Not  only  was  this 
the  result  of  Christian  teaching,  but  the  outcome  in  great 
part  of  primitive  Christian  evangelistic  methods,  which 
without  much  doubt  may  be  held  to  have  been  largely 
analogous  to  those  of  the  Salvation  Army.  Street-corner 
preaching  would  naturally  draw  recruits  not  from  the 
social  and  intellectual  elite,  but  from  the  lower  grades  of 
the  society  of  the  day,  to  whom  in  their  outcast  and  down- 
cast state  the  Gospel  came  with  a  new  message  of  hope.^ 
The  good  news,  indeed,  was  preached  to  the  slaves  of 
Caesar's  household  before  it  was  preached  to  Caesar  him- 
self;  it  was  not  until  a  later  day  that  the  upper  social 
strata  were  permeated  by  the  new  teaching,  which  then 
drew  recruits  from  the  aristocratic  and  plutocratic  ele- 
ment. The  proletarian  character  of  the  primitive  Church 
— so  marked  that  a  modern  student  has  observed  that  the 
original  Church  councils  might  have  been  looked  upon  as 
labor  conferences^ — not  only  accounts  for  but  enforces 
the  solemn  duty  laid  upon  the  primitive  Christians  of 
working  for  their  own  livelihood  and  the  relief  of  their 
indigent  fellows.  The  result,  however,  of  the  impact 
upon  their  daily  industrial  exertions  of  a  religion  which 
laid  primary  stress  upon  rectitude,  probity,  integrity, 
sobriety,  and  industry,  was  an  increased  efficiency  in 
productive  enterprise  which  brought  them  into  cornpeti- 
tion  with  the  non-Christian  elements  of  urban  popula- 
tions '^  and    ultimately    drew    down    upon    them    active 

'^The  common  meal  or  love  feast  (agape),  for  a  considerable 
time  associated  with  the  Lord's  Supper  (Eucharist),  may  be 
taken  as  a  historic  evidence  of  the  eleemosynary  character  of  the 
early  Church,  rendered  necessary  by  the  practical  destitution  of 
so  many  of  the  original  members. 

'C.  Noel,  op.  cit. 

^"Wherever  there  has  been  a  pure  and  elevated  type  of  Christi- 
anity,  there  Christians  have  exhibited   these   virtues    (industry. 


244         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

persecution,  which,  though  it  appeared  as  religious,  was 
probably  largely  determined  by  economic  and  social  con- 
siderations. 

What  has  just  been  said  refers,  of  course,  to  the  mem- 
bers of  the  primitive  Church  who  did  not  belong  to  the 
servile  class.  It  is  a  commonplace  that  the  new  religion 
at  the  outset  accepted  the  institution  of  slavery,  which 
later  fell  before  the  impact  of  the  principles  of  democ- 
racy and  equality  implicit  in  the  Christian  faith.  St. 
Paul's  counsel  to  masters  to  treat  their  slaves  kindly  and 
to  slaves  to  render  faithful  service  is  too  familiar  to  need 
any  emphasis  here.  Yet  though  the  early  Church  did 
not  challenge  slavery  as  wrong  in  itself,  there  was  an 
increasing  tendency  on  the  part  of  Christian  masters  to 
liberate  their  slaves.  In  the  immediate  period  with 
which  we  are  concerned  it  does  not  appear  that  any  par- 
ticular stress  was  laid  upon  the  necessity  or  virtue  of  this 
process  ''unless  such  liberation  seemed  necessary  to  the 
end  of  Christian  living  by  the  specific  bondsmen.  The 
fathers  in  fact  were  prone  to  discount  earthly,  as  opposed 
to  heavenly  or  spiritual,  freedom  (though  this  must  not 
be  pressed  too  far).  Made  free  in  Christ,  why  should 
the  slave  desire  to  be  released  from  his  temporal  bonds, 
especially  since  the  Christian  thought  of  that  day  con- 
sidered the  slave  better  oif  with  a  Christian  master  than 
free,   that  is,   without   desirable   restraint?"^     As   time 

sobriety,  thrift,  forethought,  mutual  helpfulness)  in  somewhat 
greater  degree  than  non-Christians.  This  simply  means  that  they 
have  wasted  less  of  their  energy  in  vice,  dissipation,  brawling, 
or  in  riotous  living,  than  their  non-Christian  neighbors.  Econo- 
mizing their  energy,  they  were  able  to  prevail  over  those  who 
wasted  theirs.  Sometimes,  however,  war  and  persecution  (italics 
ours)  have  been  resorted  to  to  check  this  economic  growth" 
(Thomas  N.  Carver,  "Principles  of  Rural  Economics,"  pp.  348-9, 
New  York,  1911).  Wesley,  noticing  the  phenomenon  implied  in 
this  excerpt,  feared  that  the  very  commercial  success  of  his 
converts  would  corrupt  their  faith. 

^Quoted  from  "Social  Aspects  of  Church  History:  the  Early 
Period"  (issued  by  the  Joint  Commission  on  Social  Service  of 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church)  New  York,  1917.  "The  slave 
once  inside  the  Church  was  accorded,  in  the  eye  of  the  faithful, 
the  same  privilege  and  honor  as  the  free  member." 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  245 

passed,  however,  the  conscience  of  the  Church  and  of 
individual  members  became  more  sensitive  on  the  ques- 
tion, and  the  practice  of  manumission  not  only  spontane- 
ously increased  but  v^as  deliberately  encouraged  by 
Church  leaders.  Church  property,  including  even  com- 
munion plate,  was  sold  or  pledged  to  ransom  slaves  as 
well  as  prisoners  in  general.  This,  however,  did  not 
prevent  the  Church  of  the  post-Constantinian  day  from 
accepting  the  institution  of  serfdom  into  which  slavery 
passed  on  the  fall,  and  even  before  the  fall,  of  the  Empire. 
It  remained  for  the  German  peasants  in  Luther's  day  to 
state  the  true  Christian  position :  "It  has  been  the  custom 
hitherto  for  men  to  hold  us  as  their  own  property,  which 
is  pitiable  enough,  considering  that  Christ  has  delivered 
and  redeemed  us  all,  the  lowly  as  well  as  the  great,  by 
the  shedding  of  His  precious  blood.  Accordingly  it  is 
consistent  with  Scripture  that  we  should  be  free  and 
should  wish  to  be  so.  .  .  .  We  therefore  take  it  for 
granted  that  you  will  release  us  from  serfdom  as  true 
Christians,  unless  it  should  be  shown  us  from  the  Gospel 
that  we  are  serfs."^ 

2.     The  Influence  of  the  World  (Empire)  on  the 
Church's  Economic  Doctrine 

When  Christianity  triumphed  the  right  of  private  prop- 
erty, as  appertaining  both  to  individual  Christians  and  the 
corporate  Church,  was  admitted  and  encouraged.  This 
was  partly  the  result  and  partly  the  cause  of  the  entrance 
into  the  Church,  through  genuine  conversion  or  for  pur- 
poses of  policy,  of  the  upper  classes,  particularly  after 
Constantine's  espousal  of  the  new  religion.  To  say  that 
the  Church  conquered  the  empire  is  but  to  say  in  effect, 
with  reference  to  the  present  issue,  that  the  empire 
conquered  the  Church.     In  other  words,  the  economic 

"Article  3  of  the  Twelve  Articles  (reproduced  in  J.  S.  Schapiro, 
"Social  Reform  and  the  Reformation,"  Columbia  University- 
Studies  in  History,  Economics,  and  Public  Law,  vol.  xxxiv, 
1909). 


246         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 


theory  and  practice  upon  which  the  imperial  pagan 
society  had  been  based  got  the  upper  hand  of  the  original 
Christian  principle.  In  this  process  the  Roman  law, 
based  as  it  was  upon  a  frank  recognition  of  the  sacro- 
sanctity  of  private  property,  was  largely  influential.^^ 

On  no  side  more  than  the  economic  is  the  deleterious 
influence  of  the  whole  pagan  civilization  on  the  Church 
perceptible.  Wealth,  coming  into  the  victorious  Church, 
either  through  conversion  or  through  inheritance,  affected 
the  original  simplicity  of  the  Christian  ideal  by  splitting 
the  strong  social  solidarity  of  the  primitive  Christian 
community  and,  in  effect,  negating  the  idea  of  the  Church 
as  a  company  of  faithful  people  whose  individual  inter- 
ests were  the  interest  of  all.  We  can  scarcely  credit  any 
substantial  equality  of  position  inside  the  ranks  of  the 
now  enlarged  Christian  communion  as  between  the  pro- 
letarian and  the  patrician  classes.  The  conversion  of 
Caesar  did  not  necessarily  make  for  the  liberation  of  the 
slaves  of  his  household  or  for  any  perceptible  change 
in  their  relations,  though  in  many  instances  this  effect 
is  known  to  have  taken  place.  But  when  there  came 
into  the  Church  a  class  of  idle,  profiteering,  or  ex- 
ploiting rich  they  did  not  cease  to  maintain  their  posi- 
tion as  against  their  "inferior"  brethren — with  the  result 
that  the  effort  to  apply  Christian  principles  to  social 
and  economic  relations,  possible  so  long  as  the  Church 
grew  by  smaller  accretions,  was  now  defeated.  As  a 
matter  of  fact,  for  reasons  connected  with  the  persecu- 
tions, the  Church  was  now  not  so  much  concerned  with 
these  things  as  in  the  earlier  days  when,  though  haled 
before  magistrates  in  Jerusalem,  its  members  were  not 
decimated  as  under  the  later  drastic  efforts  of  the  passing 
empire  to  suppress  a  religion  which  struck  at  its  vitals. 
When  martyrdom  was  a  probable  result  of  professing  the 


I 


*®It  must  never  be  forgotten  that  the  codification  of  the  Roman 
law  which  we  associate  with  the  names  of  Theodosius  and 
Justinian  was  the  work  of  nominally  Christian  emperors. 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  247 

new  faith,  economic  relations  naturally  were  shunted  into 
the  background  and  other-worldliness  in  a  very  practical 
sense  usurped  the  stage  of  consciousness,  whether  of  the 
individual  Christian  or  of  the  Church  at  large.  When, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  persecutions  passed  it  was  under 
conditions  which  threw  into  dominance  inside  the  Church 
the  governing  and  possessing  class,  which  had  been  but  a 
negligible  minority  of  its  membership  in  the  earlier  days. 

Not  only  did  the  lay  members  of  the  Church  thus  re- 
verse its  primitive  economic  teaching,  but  its  leaders 
suffered  from  a  corruption  of  motive  and  aim.  Benefac- 
tions— in  the  shape  of  legacies,  subventions,  gifts,  endow- 
ments showered  upon  the  Church  by  emperors,  wealthy 
widows,  grateful  convalescents,  and  others — by  the  very 
force  of  economic  gravity  deflected  the  Church  from  her 
original  purity  of  purpose  and  not  only  turned  many  of 
the  clergy  into  legacy-hunters,  as  Jerome  laments,  but 
bound  her  to  the  treasures  which  moth  and  rust  corrupt. 
At  a  later  date  monasteries  and  abbeys  fell  a  victim  to 
this  process  of  "secularization."  Meantime,  in  the  period 
with  which  we  are  now  concerned,  the  clergy,  as  at  least 
a  partial  result  of  the  growing  opportunity  for  the  ac- 
quisition of  property  both  individual  and  collective, 
turned  increasingly  to  lucrative  investment  of  their  funds 
— in  such  measure  indeed  that,  in  order  to  avert  scandal. 
Church  councils  and  popes  had  to  pass  decrees  forbidding 
the  clergy  to  engage  in  commercial  activity.  No  decrees, 
however,  were  potent  to  dispel  the  growing  pomp  and 
ostentation  which  became  the  normal  accompaniment  of 
ecclesiastical  offices  and  ceremonies  and  helped  to  divert 
the  mind  of  the  Church  from  the  fundamentals  of  her 
religion 

The  result  was  that  the  Church,  which  had  originally 
sided  with  the  downcast  and  downtrodden,  now  inevitably 
tended  to  align  itself  with  privilege  and  to  emasculate 
the  original  teaching,  "From  each  According  to  his  ability, 
to  each  according  to  his  need,"  into  a  doctrine  of  so-called 


248        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

"stewardship"  whose  practice  depended  upon  "super- 
fluity" of  personal  possessions.  At  the  same  time  a 
growing  tendency,  as  the  Middle  Ages  came  in,  to  recog- 
nize social  castes  and  varying  economic  resources  as 
necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  the  dignity  attached 
thereto,  introduced  disturbing  elements  into  the  original 
Christian  attitude  on  economic  questions.  Meantime 
the  Church  as  an  institution  found  itself  in  the  contradic- 
tory attitude  of  maintaining  feudal  estates  worked  by  its 
own  serfs^i  for  the  purpose  not  only  of  filling  its  coffers 
for  necessary  works  of  charity,  but  of  increasing  its  own 
pomp  and  circumstance,  and  of  contributing  in  all  too 
many  instances  directly  to  the  selfish  aggrandisement  of 
ecclesiastical  overlords,  who  too  frequently  vied  with  the 
secular  feudal  dignitaries  in  power,  wealth,  position,  and 
worldly  ambition. 

3.  Reaction  in  the  Middle  Ages  toward  the  Prim- 
itive Christian  Teaching  with  Regard  to 
Economic  and  Industrial  Relations 

^The  decline  of  trade  following  the  fall  of  the  Western 
empire  resulted  in  the  triumph  of  Christian  social  ethics 
over  the  imperial.  When  the  Western  empire  finally 
went  to  ruin  it  carried  with  it  the  whole  imperial 
economy.  The  prosperity  of  Rome,  which  had  de- 
pended under  the  Republic  on  the  cultivation  of  the  soil 
mainly  by  free  farmers,  had  gradually,  under  the  im- 
perial regime,  come  to  rest  on  an  agrarian  system  based 
upon  slave  labor — as  the  result  of  the  killing  off  of  the 
original  cultivators,  who  had  been  drafted  progressively 

"The  original  monastic  orders  in  the  West,  it  must  be  remem- 
bered, through  insistence  on  the  gospel  of  daily  labor  were  able — 
and  indeed  made  it  a  virtue — to  subsist  on  the  personal  work  of 
their  individual  members,  among  whom  different  tasks  were 
apportioned  on  the  basis  of  adaptability  or  convenience,  agri- 
culture being  the  fundamental  monastic  work.  Later,  as  the 
orders  acquired  wealth  and  the  towns  and  trade  revived  or 
sprang  up  de  novo,  it  was  possible  to  relieve  the  monks  of  the 
harder  forms  of  manual  labor  except  for  disciplinary  purposes. 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  249 

into  the  conquering  legions.  But  agriculture  carried  on 
by  helots  has  never  proved  successful  in  the  long  run, 
and  Rome  found  it  so.  In  the  later  days  of  the  empire,  it 
was  necessary  to  replace,  so  far  as  possible,  slave  labor  on 
the  farms  by  semi-free  tillers  of  the  soil  (coloni).  The 
colonate  thus  established  did  something  to  delay  the  de- 
cline and  fall  of  Rome,  but  could  not  permanently  hold 
the  decay  of  the  imperial  order  in  check,  and  when  the 
barbarian  inroads  occurred  in  successive  waves  the  new 
agrarian  institution  offered  the  means  of  a  facile  transi- 
tion to  the  serfdom  on  which  the  medieval  rural  economy 
was  founded.  The  coloni,  part  free,  part  slave,  passed 
into  the  serfs  attached  to  the  soil,  who  still  had  certain 
recognizable  privileges.  On  this  basis  the  medieval 
manor  as  the  successor  of  the  Roman  villa  became  a  self- 
subsisting  economic  unit,  producing  substantially  all  the 
commodities  required  for  its  own  consumption  and  ulti- 
mately acquiring  a  surplus  which  lay  at  the  base  of 
medieval  exchange  or  commerce. 

The  Church,  as  the  heir  of  the  empire,  came  into 
possession  of  manorial  holdings  under  prelates  as  potent 
as  the  secular  lords  or  monastic  orders,  whose  fields,  not 
only  through  free  gift  but  frequently  through  actual  en- 
croachment, acquired  an  area  rivaling  that  of  the  secular 
demesnes.  These  ecclesiastical  holdings,  accepting  the 
feudal  basis  as  their  necessary  substructure  even  though 
in  many  instances  mitigating  the  condition  of  the  serfs, 
reenforced  the  status  quo  and  encouraged  its  continu- 
ance.i2  jn  other  words,  so  far  as  the  rural  economy 
was  concerned,  the  Church  accepted  the  existing  regime 
and  profited  by  it. 


"It  may  be  noted  that  no  general  council  or  synod  of  the 
medieval  Church  ever  officially  condemned  serfdom  or  slavery, 
though  local  synods  and  individual  churchmen  opposed  both 
institutions.  On  the  monastic  holdings  at  a  somewhat  later  date, 
see  the  striking  chapter  (VIII)  in  A.  Luchaire,  "Social  France  at 
the  Time  of  Philip  Augustus,"  (translated  by  E.  B.  Krehbiel, 
New  York,  1912). 


<2So         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

In  the  towns  the  situation  was  somewhat  different.^* 
Many  of  these  had  either  dedined  or  passed  out  of  ex- 
istence with  the  fall  of  the  Western  empire,  but  in  course 
of  time  others  took  their  places  and  some  decadent  com- 
munities revived.  This  was  partly  the  result  of  the 
splitting  off  from  former  manorial  estates  of  groups  of 
serfs  who  set  up  as  urban  artisans.  As  government  be- 
came more  stable,  however,  and  western  European 
society  in  general  recovered  from  the  shock  of  the  fall  of 
Rome,  industry  began  once  more  to  get  on  its  feet,  and 
in  the  process  the  Church  played  a  not  negligible  role. 
Just  as  the  monasteries  were  a  contributing  factor  in  the 
development  of  medieval  agriculture — so  much  so  that 
when  they  declined  agriculture  declined — they  had  a 
perceptible  effect  upon  the  development  of  industrial  life 
through  their  revived  gospel  of  work.  Not  only  were  the 
monks  tillers  of  the  soil  but  they  became  artisans,  making 
clothes  and  the  tools  of  husbandry,  manufacturing  books, 
erecting  their  cloistral  buildings.  In  this  way  monastic 
labor,  though  the  ascetic  motive  was  largely  dominant, 
substantially  tended  toward  the  revival  and  development 
of  manual  work.^** 

But  a  more  direct  effect  of  the  medieval  Church  on  the 
new  urban  economy  may  be  found  in  its  attitude  on  the 
following  subjects : 

a.  Usury,  The  Justinian  code  had  frankly  accepted 
usury  or  interest  as  the  penalty  {poena  conventionalis) 
inflicted  upon  the  borrower  who  defrauded  the  lender  of 
his  loan — interest  {inter esse)  in  this  case  representing 
the  difference  between  what  the  creditor's  position 
actually  was  and  what  it  would  have  been  if  the  borrower 


^'On  this  matter,  cf.  William  Cunningham,  "Christianity  and 
Economic  Science,"  Ch.  IV  (New  York,  1914)  ;  also  Mrs.  J.  R. 
Green,  "English  Town  Life  in  the  Fifteenth  Century." 

"Other  aspects  of  monastic  labor  have  been  indicated  in  a  fore- 
going note.  Moreover,  the  monasteries  became  the  first  trade 
schools.  See  Joseph  Husslein,  "Democratic  Industry,"  Ch.  XVI 
(New  York,  1919). 


J 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  251 

had  not  defaulted.  Later  a  percentage  based  upon  time 
was  charged.  Against  this  conception  and  practice  the 
Church  set  the  Lukan  precept,  "Lend,  hoping  for  nothing 
again" — the  idea  being  that  property  was  not  one's  own 
but  was  entrusted  to  one  for  the  benefit  of  others  more 
needy  than  oneself.  Throughout  the  Middle  Ages  the 
Church  vigorously  maintained  that  interest  or  a  percent- 
age charge  for  the  mere  use  or  loan  of  money  was 
illegitimate.^ 5  As  Aquinas  phrased  it,  using  the  argument 
which  became  classic  with  the  Schoolmen,  "Money  is 
barren.''  Moreover,  it  was  said,  interest  is  based  upon 
time,  which  is  nobody's  property  but  belongs  to  God  and 
to  humanity  generally.  The  only  justification  the  Church 
would  admit  for  the  lender's  effort  to  recoup  himself  was 
when  he  could  prove  an  actual  loss  incurred  through  the 
debtor's  default  {damnum  emergens)  or  a  probable  loss 
of  profit  through  inability  to  invest  that  same  capital  in 
lucrative  enterprise  (lucrum  cessans).  In  the  one  case, 
according  to  the  strict  doctrine  of  the  Church,  it  was 
necessary  for  the  claimant  to  prove  that  he  had  sustained 
real  damage;  in  the  second,  that  the  profit  he  had  fore- 
gone was  not  merely  possible  but  probable.  Coupled,  in 
the  Church's  view,  with  interest  was  rent,  which  was  also 
brought  to  the  same  test :  "Did  they  or  did  they  not  enable 
men  to  live  .  .  .  upon  the  wealth  produced  by  the  work- 
ing communities,  and  to  give  no  adequate  service  for 
wealth  so  extracted  from  the  producers  ?"^^  Despite  the 
Church's  prohibition  of  usury,  however,  evasions  were 
not  uncommon,  especially  in  the  later  Middle  Ages,  and 
became  increasingly  frequent  as  trade  recovered,  while 


^'By  the  sharp  practice  of  business  men,  if  not  their  open  de- 
fiance of  the  canonist  position,  and  by  the  casuistical  arguments 
of  the  later  Schoolmen  in  sympathy  with  the  growing  lay  opposi- 
tion, the  rigor  of  the  Church's  prohibition  was  gradually  miti- 
gated and  the  prohibition  itself  ultimately  nullified. 

^•^See  Noel,  op.  cit.,  p.  199.  The  irony  of  the  situation  con- 
sisted in  the  fact  that  the  Church  herself,  as  a  fief-holder,  fre- 
quently did  not  practice  her  own  rede. 


252         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

at  the  same  time  some  of  the  Church's  spokesmen  sided 
with  the  commercial  class.  It  should  be  noted,  however, 
that  the  medieval  Church  even  in  the  heyday  of  its  power 
never  sought  to  discountenance  legitimate  enterprise,  in 
which  the  lender  took  a  real  business  risk  with  the 
borrowen^*^ 

Over  against  the  Church's  negative  attitude  towards 
interest  was   set   its   positive  attitude   in   favor  of 

b.  A  just  price  and  the  protection  of  purchasers  from 
sJiarp  business  practices.  Trade  could  not  be  carried  on 
for  profit  first  and  foremost.  There  was  such  a  thing  as 
a  recognized  standard  price  for  commodities,  which  was 
practically  fixed  by  the  public  authorities  after  due  con- 
sideration of  cost  of  production  and  distribution.^^  A 
merchant  could  not  be  a  Christian  and  charge  all  the 
traffic  would  bear.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  civil  law 
would  not  permit  him  to  do  so.  Nor  could  he  who  at- 
tempted to  trick  a  prospective  purchaser  by  concealing 
defects  or  faults  in  the  commodity  offered  receive  the 
sanction  of  Church  or  State.  This  did  not  mean  that 
the  seller  was  compelled  to  go  out  of  his  way  to  point 
out  a  defect  which  was  obvious  to  a  reasonably  acute 
buyer.  The  medieval  attitude  on  this  matter  may  be 
expressed  by  some  such  illustration  as  that  one  could 


'W.  J.  Ashley,  "English  Economic  History  and  Theory"  (New 
York,  1905)  ;  cf.  the  Third  Triennial  Report  of  the  Joint  Com- 
mission on  Social  Service  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church, 
p.  164  (New  York,  1919). 

"When  such  cost  could  not  be  ascertained  "either  because  the 
wares  had  been  brought  from  a  distance  or  for  any  other  reason, 
'common  estimation'  afforded  the  best  approximation  to  the  just 
price,  and  common  estimation  was  indicated  by  the  prices  offered 
and  accepted  in  the  open  market,  where  those  who  purchased  for 
their  own  consumption  were  accorded  primary  rights  over  deal- 
ers." At  the  periodical  medieval  fairs,  however,  the  law  of 
supply  and  demand  was  freely  operative,  and  it  was  the  extension 
of  this  principle  to  the  towns  which  marked  the  fall  of  the 
medieval  and  the  rise  of  the  modern  economy.  Cf.  Cunningham, 
"Christianity  and  Economic  Science,"  Ch.  IV;  also  "Growth 
of  English  Commerce  and  Industry,"  vol.  I,  Pt.  II.,  Ch.  VI  (Cam 
bridge  University  Press,  1910-1912). 


J 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  253 

not  offer  a  three-legged  horse  for  purchase  by  a  blind 
man,  without  pointing  out  the  loss  of  the  fourth  leg. 
The  medieval  position,  in  a  word,  was  that  of  throwing 
a  reasonable  safeguard  around  the  purchaser  without  at 
the  same  time  unreasonably  interfering  with  sales. 
Translated  into  modern  terms,  the  medieval  merchant 
or  contractor,  if  he  desired  to  be  admitted  within  the 
pale  of  Christian  society,  could  not  have  njanufactured 
or  sold  shoddy  clothing,  rotten  meat,  infected  milk,  or 
houses  which  were  likely  to  fall  upon  the  heads  of  the 
tenants. 

c.  Property  and  personal  resources,  in  other  words, 
were  regarded  as  the  means  of  stewardship — not  as  the 
means  primarily  of  private  profit.  Maintaining,  as  the 
earlier  fathers  of  the  Church  had  maintained,  that  private 
property  was  strictly  indefensible,  nevertheless  the 
medieval  Church  admitted  it  as  necessary  in  view  of  the 
infirmity  of  the  flesh,  but  accorded  to  it  no  such  wide 
latitude  as  the  modern  world  has  become  accustomed  to 
or  as  antiquity  had  practiced.  The  Church's  precept, 
unfortunately,  did  not  by  any  means  coincide  with  her 
own  practice,  and  the  spectacle  of  wealthy  prelates  and 
poor  priests,  of  fief-  and  serf-holding  churches  and 
convents  which  oppressed  their  bond  slaves  and  the  poor 
generally  as  iniquitously  as  any  secular  lords  of  the 
times,  brought  from  the  more  spiritually  minded  of  her 
children  recurrent  protests,  most  of  which  were  branded 
as  heresies  and  rigorously  stamped  out.  One  such  pro- 
test which  in  its  origin  escaped  the  charge  of  heresy  only 
to  fall  before  it  later,  the  movement  led  by  Francis  of 
Assisi,  gave  indeed  a  compensating  ideal  through 

d.  The  cult  of  poverty.  The  original  movement,  in 
view  of  its  wide  popularity,  was  astutely  taken  under  the 
aegis  of  the  papacy.  When  shortly  after  its  founder's 
death  it  split  into  two  parties,  the  Conventuals  and  the 
Spirituals — the  one  giving  a  liberal  and  the  other  a  strict 
interpretation  to  the   Franciscan  vow  of  poverty — the 


254        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

papacy  seized  the  opportunity  to  put  down  a  dangerous 
enemy  by  suppressing  the  Spirituals,  through  John  XXII, 
and  throwing  the  weight  of  its  authority  with  the  Con- 
ventuals.^^ The  Franciscan  movement,  however,  was 
only  one  of  a  series  of  monastic  orders  which — at  least  in 
origin — stressed  the  duty  of  personal  and  collective 
poverty,  though  it  remained  for  St.  Francis  to  set  this 
particular  clause  of  the  triple  monastic  vow  in  high  relief 
as  a  protest  against  the  increasing  secularization  of  the 
Church.  Even  though  the  more  radical  wing  was  sup- 
pressed after  Francis's  death,  it  bore  fruit  in  subsequent 
movements  which  were  directly  recognized  and  branded 
as  heretical — such  as  the  Waldensians,  for  example,  and 
also  later  religious  communities  like  the  Brethren  of  the 
Common  Life.  This  cult  of  poverty — a  protest  in  favor 
of  the  Church's  original  ideal  with  reference  to  property 
and  against  the  wide  defection  therefrom  on  the  part  of 
the  official  hierarchy — took  direct  issue  with  the  increas- 
ing tendency  on  the  part  of  business  men  and  traders  to 
treat  property,  commerce,  and  industry  as  the  means  of 
personal  private  gain,  in  which  many  of  the  clergy  and 
the  Church  at  large,  despite  their  theoretical  position  out- 
lined above,  were  themselves  implicated. 

e.  The  Church  and  the  gild  system.  The  medieval 
Church  had  still  other  relations  to  contemporary  industry 
through  the  gild  system,  which  has  recently  received  re- 
newed attention  from  both  Christian  and  secular 
students.  Though  the  system  was  largely  secular,  arising 
and  developing  in  various  communities  as  the  most  con- 
venient way  of  organizing  production  and  distribution,  at 
the  same  time  its  relation  with  organized  Christianity  was 
of  such  a  nature  as  to  redeem  it  from  entire  commercial- 


"The  downfall  of  the  Spirituals  meant  increasing  degeneracy 
of  the  order,  which,  in  the  Reformation  and  post-Reformation 
period,  acquired  "popularity  .  .  .  with  the  business  men  and 
financiers  of  the  time"  by  frankly  repudiating  their  founder's 
principles  and  espousing  the  rising  commercial  movement  (Noel, 
op.  cit,  p.  201). 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  255 

ism.  The  ideal  of  the  individual  gild^^  was  that  of  a 
religio-socio-economic  unity — involving  a  combination  of 
relations  which,  it  should  be  obvious  from  the  foregoing 
discussion,  were  conceived  by  the  medieval  Church  as 
being  but  so  many  phases  of  a  general  unity.  Medieval 
Christianity  recognized  no  fundamental  distinction  be- 
tween what  we  speak  of  as  (ethical  and  religious  values  in 
contradistinction  to  social  and  economic  values.  The  gild 
family — for  such  this  industrial  unit  really  was  in  its 
heyday — was  set  in  a  quasi-religious  or  ecclesiastical 
framework  and  enveloped  in  a  Christian  atmosphere. 
The  master  craftsman  occupied  toward  his  journeymen- 
workers  and  apprentices  the  position  of  a  Chris- 
tian paterfamilias  who,  in  the  Church's  view,  was  held 
largely  responsible  for  the  welfare,  in  the  largest  sense,  of 
those  with  whom  he  was  daily  sustaining  industrial  rela- 
tions. The  patron  saints  of  the  gilds  and  their  religious 
rites  were  borrowed  from  the  Church,  and  altogether  did 
much  to  effect  a  rapprochement  of  religion  and  business 
at  a  time  when  other  influences  were  working  in  the 
direction  of  a  divorce  of  religious  and  commercial  ethics. 
It  should  be  further  noted  that  the  idea  underlying  the 
gild  system  as  such  was,  in  its  earlier  and  better  days, 
frankly  that  of  public  or  social  service.  The  gilds  aimed, 
in  theory  at  least,  at  supplying  the  best  possible  production 
at  the  fairest  price,  and  if,  at  times,  like  all  human 
institutions,  they  erred  in  the  direction  of  their  own  ad- 
vantage they  were  rebuked  by  both  the  political  and  the 
religious  power.  The  whole  tendency  of  the  gild  system 
until  the  dawn  of  the  modern  period  was,  in  short,  in  the 
direction  of  fair  play,  not  only  as  between  producer  and 
consumer  but  as  between  "management  and  men."  The 
single  master  craftsman  or  personal   employer  in  the 


*It  IS  not  the  merchant  gilds  which  are  here  in  mind,  but  the 
craft  gilds — which  have  been  called  by  a  recent  writer  "the  first 
Christian  trade  unions"  (Joseph  Husslein, "Democratic  Industry"). 


256        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

nature  of  the  case  sustained  the  closest  of  relations  with 
his  working  force  and  took  what  was  under  such  circum- 
stances a  natural  pride  in  their  skill  or  their  progress  in 
attaining  it.^i  In  other  words,  medieval  production  was 
more  Christian  in  spirit  than  our  modern  manufacturing 
process,  which  has  de-personalized  the  relations  between 
employer  and  employe  and  placed  profits  above  human 
values. 22 

4.    Secular  Economic  Forces  Triumphant  over  the 
Church  in  Modern  (Protestant)   Period 

The  continued  growth  of  the  towns,  involving  and  in- 


^^Among  the  best  recent  statements  on  the  subject  of  gilds  are 
those  contained  in  Ashley,  "English  Economic  History  and 
Theory/'  Bk.  I,  Ch.  I,  Bk.  II,  Chs.  I,  II ;  P.  Kropotkin,  "Mutual 
Aid:  a  Factor  of  Evolution,"  (London,  1902)  ;  James  E.  Thorold 
Rogers,  "Six  Centuries  of  Work  and  Wages"  (London,  1912)  ; 
Pasquale  Villari,  "First  Two  Centuries  of  Florentine  History" 
(New  York,  1912)  ;  Cunningham,  "Growth  of  English  Com- 
merce and  Industry,"  also  his  chapter  in  the  "Cambridge  Modern 
History,"  Vol.  I ;  E.  R.  A.  Seligman,  "Two  Chapters  on  Medieval 
Gilds"  (American  Economic  Association  Publications,  Vol.  II, 
1888)  ;  Stella  Kramer,  "English  Craft  Gilds  and  the  Government" 
(Columbia  University  Studies  in  History,  Economics  and  Public 
Law,  Vol.  XXIII,  1905)  ;  Lambert,  "Two  Thousand  Years  of 
Gild  Life";  L.  Lamprey,  "In  the  Days  of  the  Gild"  (popular 
narrative)  New  York,  1919;  A.  K.  Coomaraswamy,  "The  Indian 
Craftsman"  (London,  1909)  ;  L.  F.  Salzman,  "English  Industries 
of  the  Middle  Ages"  (Boston,  1913)  ;  Johannes  Janssen,  "History 
of  the  German  People"  (Trench,  Trubner  &  Co.,  1896-1909)  ; 
Mrs.  J.  R.  Greene,  "English  Town  Life  in  the  Fifteenth  Century" 
(New  York,  1907).  It  should  be  noted  that  in  current  industrial 
discussion  the  gild  idea  has  been  revived — as  by  the  English 
Guild  Socialists  and  the  Syndicalists. 

"It  seems  to  have  been  an  accepted  principle  of  medieval 
economics,  whether  or  not  under  direct  Christian  influence,  that 
the  maintenance  of  labor  in  reasonable  health  and  comfort  was 
a  first  charge  upon  industry.  See  William  Cunningham,  "Chris- 
tianity and  Economic  Science,"  Chapter  IV.  The  medieval 
principle  of  payment,  as  exemplified  in  the  monastic  establish- 
ments, was  based  upon  the  need  of  the  workers  rather  than  on  in- 
dividual quality  or  amount  of  labor.  This  principle  the  urban 
industries  adopted  with  some  modifications,  including  the  sub- 
stitution of  money  payment  (wages)  for  payment  in  kind.  The 
increasing  division  of  labor  in  urban  industry,  as  compared  with 
its  essential  homogeneity  and  unity  in  the  cloister,  tended,  how- 
ever, to  the  replacement  of  standard  wages  by  pay  in  accordance 
with  special  skill  of  performance  and  value  of  output. 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  257 

volved  with  the  growth  of  industry  and  trade,  especially 
toward  the  end  of  the  medieval  era,  sharpened  the  grow- 
ing opposition  to  the  long  accepted  Roman  Catholic  atti- 
tude toward  property,  interest,  and  other  phases  of 
economic  life.  Both  evasions  and  defiance  of  the 
Church's  prohibition  of  interest-taking  became  in  this 
period  increasingly  numerous. ^^  In  a  word,  after  the 
long  chaos  of  the  period  following  the  fall  of  Rome,  the 
world  was  again  coming  into  its  own  and  was  successfully 
challenging  the  right  of  the  Church  to  dictate  in  so-called 
secular  affairs — a  challenge  too  commonly  accepted  as 
wholly  valid.  At  this  point,  indeed,  there  was  perceptible 
the  beginning  of  the  separation  between  ethics  and 
economics  which  has  been  so  marked  a  characteristic 
of  our  modern  age  and  to  which  so  many  contemporary 
students  and  thinkers  are  ascribing  our  present  diffi- 
culties. The  tendency,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was  facili- 
tated by  influences  within  the  Church,  especially  in  the 
last  century  or  so  before  the  Protestant  Reformation. 
Casuistry  was  increasingly  invoked  to  prove  that  interest- 
taking  was  legitimate.2^  Though  this  internal  opposition 
was  partly  sincere,  there  is  ground  for  grave  suspicion 
that  it  was  invoked  for  pecuniary  considerations  by  the 
secular  forces  with  which  it  agreed.  Attacked  from 
within  and  without,  the  Roman  Church  was  unable  to 
maintain  its  traditional  position  and  lost  its  grip  on  the 
economic  sphere. 

Side  by  side  with  the  relaxation  of  the  Church's  prohi- 
bition of  usury  and  her  loss  of  control  over  commercial 
practices,  such  as  selling  at  a  just  price  and  other 
economic  principles  noted  above,  went  the  decline  of  the 


"It  may  be  noted  that  the  Rockefellers  of  that  period — the 
Fuggers — as  bankers  of  the  Papal  See  collected  papal  dues  and 
perquisites  for  a  given  percentage,  often  extremely  high,  a  direct 
flouting  of  the  Catholic  position. 

"For  a  somewhat  detailed  study  of  these  defections  inside  the 
Church's  own  family  the  reader  is  referred  to  Ashley,  op.  cit., 
Bk.  II,  Ch.  IX. 


258         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

gild '  system  and  the  placing  of  industry  on  a  frankly 
secular  basis.  The  personal  nexus  between  master 
craftsmen  on  the  one  hand  and  their  journeymen  and 
apprentices  on  the  other  was  broken  under  a  new  in- 
dustrial system,  which  put  increasing  numbers  of  workers 
under  the  autocratic  direction  of  an  employer.  Business 
progressively  ceased  to  be  recognized  as  a  means  of  social 
service  and  profit-seeking  gradually  acquired  the  position 
of  a  dominant  motive.  Instead  of  the  small  industrial 
family  involved  in  the  passing  gild  unit,  the  new  system 
meant  the  throwing  of  increasingly  large  numbers  of 
workers  under  a  single  factory  roof,  subject  to  the  dic- 
tates of  a  manager  or  employer — who  no  longer  had  any 
personal  consideration  for  the  employes,  but  was  increas- 
ingly prompted  by  the  desire  to  extract  from  them  the 
greatest  possible  amount  of  labor  at  the  lowest  possible 
price.25  In  the  development  here  noted  the  rising  com- 
mercial instincts  of  the  towns,  together  with  the  art  of 
commercial  and  financial  calculation  on  a  systematic  basis 
and  the  practice  of  ''business  economy,''  played  their  due 
part. 

In  this  industrial  transition  the  direct  influence  of 
Protestantism  itself  may  be  largely  traced — not  so  much 
in  its  Lutheran  as  in  its  Calvinistic  form.^^    The  Genevan 


^'The  factory  system  did  not,  as  has  been  frequently  but  erro- 
neously supposed,  wait  upon  the  so-called  "industrial  revolution." 
Already  before  the  application  of  steam  and,  later,  electrical 
power  to  the  processes  of  production  the  factory  had  begun  to 
assume  the  characteristics  which  we  now  associate  with  it :  the 
main  difference  being  that  in  the  earlier  stage  of  development 
factory  workers  actually  made  by  hand  (manufactured)  what 
was  later  produced  by  elaborate  machinery,  of  which  the  erst- 
while artisans  became  merely  the  tenders.  It  may  be  noted, 
further,  that  there  was  a  brief  transitional  period  between  the 
passing  of  the  gild  system  and  the  coming  in  of  the  factory 
system — the  domestic  system,  under  which  the  former  gild  crafts- 
men, instead  of  making  in  their  own  shops  commodities  directly 
for  the  market,  contracted  with  private  producers  for  goods 
which  were  then  placed  on  sale  by  the  latter.  See  on  this 
matter  Ashley,  op.  cit. 

^^Though  Calvin  is  charged  by  Bossuet  as  the  first  theologian 
to  distinguish  between  usury  and  interest,  his  defense  of  interest 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  259 

Church,  by  substituting  for  the  "inner  asceticism"  of 
Catholicism  as  practiced  in  the  cloister  and  in  the 
hermitage  an  "outer  asceticism"  which  viewed  daily  work 
as  necessary  discipline,  promoted  the  growing  preoccupa- 
tion with  business  as  such.  The  Calvinist  was,  in  a  word, 
encouraged  by  his  Church  authorities  to  engage  in  daily 
productive  labor  both  for  the  sake  of  keeping  out  of 
mischief  and  of  providing  for  the  needs  of  his  own  family 
or  other  dependents.  Profits  accumulating  by  virtue  of 
the  abstemiousness  and  general  sobriety  of  CalvinistiQ-5 
business  men  before  long  caused  the  supplanting  of  the  - 
original  motive  of  such  daily  labor  with  the  new  motive 
of  direct  profit-seeking.^'^ 

The  espousal  by  Calvinism  of  what  came  ultimately  to 
be  recognized  as  capitalism  was  due,  however,  partly  to 
another  motive  than  that  already  indicated.  The  revival 
of  Old  Testament  ethics  has  been  a  marked  tendency  on 
the  part  of  the  more  rigorous  element  of  Protestantism, 
and  has  had  a  perceptible  effect  in  the  realm  of  com- 
mercial morality  and  business  and  industrial  practice.  It 
was  largely  because,  as  has  been  strikingly  pointed  out  by 
a  modern  student,^^  the  New  Testament,  by  virtue  of  the 
special  circumstances  into  which  the  early  Church  was 
born,  is  silent  on  many  problems  of  modern  life,  that  the 
Protestant  bodies,  especially  that  of  Geneva,  felt  called 
upon  to  fill  in  the  lacunae  in  the  original  Christian  teach- 
ing on  social  and  economic  questions  by  appealing  to 
Hebrew  and  Jewish  doctrines.     The  nascent  Church  had 


was  itself  qualified  in  his  confidential  communication  to  his  friend 
Oecolampadius. 

^"Religion,"  said  Wesley,  "must  necessarily  produce  both 
industry  and  frugality,  and  these  cannot  but  produce  riches.  But 
as  riches  increase,  so  will  pride,  anger,  and  love  of  the  world 
in  all  its  branches"  (quoted  by  Cunningham,  "Christianity  and 
Economic  Science,"  Ch.  Ill) — applicable,  with  some  reservations, 
to  the  phenomenon  noted  in  the  text. 

'^^Cunningham,  "Christianity  and  Economic  Science,"  Chapter 
V,  on  which  the  remainder  of  the  paragraph  in  the  text  is 
based. 


26o         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

none  of  the  larger  problems  of  social,  economic,  and 
political  life  to  deal  with  which  confronted  later  Christi- 
anity.29  But  the  Hebrew  theocracy  afforded  a  prototype 
of  that  which  Calvin  and  Beza  reared  in  the  Swiss  capital, 
and  nothing  seemed  more  germane  to  the  specific  problem 
of  the  thriving  commercial  center  in  which  Presbyterian- 
ism  began — and,  subsequently,  of  others  into  which  it  was 
introduced — than  the  Hebrew  and  Jewish  attitude  toward 
usury  or  interest.  The  Deuteronomic  code  had  expressly 
allowed  usury  in  the  case  of  aliens,  and  medieval  Jews 
took  full  advantage  of  the  permission  in  relation  to  con- 
temporary Christians.  By  the  irony  of  events,  their 
attitude  was  accepted  by  the  Reformed  Churches — 
though  Calvin  must  be  exonerated  from  the  common 
charge  that  he  directly  encouraged  the  new  tendency. 
The  movement  which  he  founded,  however,  ultimately 
"allowed  free  play  to  the  commercial  spirit,*'  largely  be- 
cause it  was  in  a  commercial  center  that  it  grew  up.  It 
was  notably  in  Scotland  under  the  Knoxite  movement 
that  the  alliance  between  Calvinism  and  capitalism  be- 
came conspicuous,  as  a  determining  factor  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  national  religious  life,  whereas  in  Geneva  and 
the  Huguenot  cities  it  had  had  a  merely  local  manifesta- 
tion.^^ In  Scotland  under  the  Presbyterian  regime 
capitalism  was  hailed  as  the  saviour  of  society  from 
idleness  and  economic  apathy.     "Enterprising  men  who 


^^This  implication  of  Professor  Cunningham's  is  perhaps  an 
overstatement.  In  his  notable  study,  first  published  thirty  years 
ago,  "The  Ancient  Lowly,"  Osborne  Ward,  utilizing  monumental 
inscriptions  then  recently  brought  to  light,  sought  to  prove  that 
there  was  a  world-wide  proletarian  organization  in  antiquity  and 
that  it  was  in  the  Graeco-Roman  trade  unions,  traced  to  the 
Solonic  jus  coeudi-la.w  of  free  association,  that  Christianity  was 
first  planted.  This  theory,  ignored  but  never  refuted  by  Church 
historians,  would  give  the  primitive  Church  more  direct  and  far- 
reaching  influence  on  contemporary  industrial  conditions  than 
Cunningham  implies,  or  even  than  is  hinted  in  Section  I  above. 

^•^In  Holland,  as  in  Scotland,  it  was  on  the  national,  rather  than 
the  local,  life  that  the  effect  of  Calvinism  was  most  apparent. 


t 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  261 

set  up  manufactures  were  empowered  to  impress  any 
vagrants,3i  and  employ  them  for  their  service  for  eleven 
years  without  wages  except  meat  and  clothing/'32  fj^e 
same  applied  to  "poor  and  indigent  children'*  until  the  age 
of  thirty.  Acquiescence  in  this  attitude  was  made  easier 
for  the  Calvinist  conscience  because  the  "dangers  of 
sweating  and  other  forms  of  oppression  by  moneyed  men 
were  so  remote  that  they  were  not  taken  into  account. 
.  .  .  Capital  appeared  in  a  friendly  guise  as  the  greatest 
of  social  benefactors.  Religious  reasons  could  ...  be 
adduced  in  favor  of  cultivating  the  type  of  conduct  .  .  . 
favorable  to  capitalists" — ^partly  at  least  under  the  in- 
fluence of  the  prudential  counsels  of  the  Book  of 
Proverbs. 

But  this  commercial  development  was  equally  the  re- 
sult of  the  extreme  individualism  into  which  Protestant- 
ism ran  by  reaction  from  the  more  socialized  Roman 
Catholic  position.  Successful  assertion  by  the  Lutheran 
revolt  of  the  freedom  of  the  personal  conscience  from 
papal  and  hierarchical  tyranny  involved  also  a  like  declar- 
ation of  economic  independence  by  the  individual  from 
an  ecclesiastical  and  ethical  control  which  fretted  his 
rising  commercial  instincts.  In  this  sense  it  has  been 
asserted  that  "Protestant  individualism  is  the  mother  of 
modern  commercialism."^^  What  is  meant  is  that 
Protestantism  denied  two  cardinal  conceptions  of  medi- 
eval Catholicism,  largely  shared  by  modern  Christian 
social  thinkers,  that  Christianity  is  concerned  with  men's 
bodies  as  well  as  their  souls  and  that  "the  individual  is 
not  redeemed,  built  up  into  a  rich  and  generous  person- 


^'In  justice  it  should  be  noted  that  vagabondage  and  mendicancy 
had  been  enormously  increased  by  the  enclosure  of  the  common 
lands  during  the  later  Middle  Ages.  Cf.  G.  Slater,  "English 
Peasantry  and  the  Enclosure  of  Common  Fields,"  (London, 
1907). 

^^Cunningham,  op.  cit,  Ch.  V. 

^^Noel,  op.  cit,  p.  198. 


262         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

ality,  in  isolation  but  in  association."^^  These  truths  the 
Reformed  Churches  ignored.  Men  whose  bodies  did  not. 
count — according  to  the  Protestant  doctrine — might  with 
impunity  be  exploited  by  others.  So  not  only  the  ease- 
loving  landlord,  but  the  driving  urban  entrepreneur  found 
justification  in  a  view  which  in  effect  took  the  hands  of 
religion  off  commercial  life  and  left  the  world  of  business 
to  the  devil,  from  whose  clutches  the  individual  Prot- 
estant had  originally  sought  escape  through  the  discipline 
of  daily  toil.^^ 

Some  may  object  that  this  is  too  dark  a  view  of  the 
economic  results  of  Protestantism,  and  in  justice  it  must 
be  admitted  that  an  opposing  theory^^  has  been  advanced 
by  representative  modern  students  to  the  effect  that  the 
Protestant  other-worldliness  was  really  inimical  to  the 
development  of  business  initiative  and  enterprise.  One 
effect  Protestant  other-worldliness  and  excessive  indi- 
vidualism certainly  had :  by  theoretically  ignoring  secular 
affairs  and  concentrating  attention  upon  the  future  life  it 
materially  tended  to  eliminate  the  Protestant  Churches  as 
determining  factors  in  the  development  of  commercial 
ethics. 

It  is  only  in  the  light  of  the  individualistic  attitude  of 
these  Churches  that  we  can  fully  understand  the  rapid 
and  easy  development  of  economic  laissez  faire  as  it  came 
to  be  represented  in  the  famous  Manchester  school  of 
political  economy  in  the  first  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century.     The  modern  divorce  between  religious  ethics 


^*Ibid.,  p.  197.  Preoccupation  of  Protestant  students  and 
historians  with  the  ascetic  and  monastic  aspects  of  Catholicism 
has  largely  prevented  them,  until  recently,  from  recognizing  the 
concern  of  the  medieval  Church  with  man's  physical  conditions. 

^""Ernst  Troeltsch,  "Protestantism  and  Progress  (New  York, 
1912),  based  upon  a  larger  German  work  by  the  same  writer, 
which  in  turn  is  indebted  to  an  exhaustive  study  by  Max  Weber, 
their  views  being  echoed  by  Archdeacon  Cunningham  in  his 
"Christianity  and  Economic  Science." 

'^*'As  pronounced  by  Werner  Sombart,  "Quintessence  of 
Capitalism"  (New  York,  1915). 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  263 

and  industrial  life  is  clearly  responsible  in  large  measure 
for  the  rise  of  this  economy.^'^  The  prestige  of  Adam 
Smith  has  been  used  throughout  the  modern  period  by  the 
advocates  of  his  principle  of  free  competition,  unquali- 
fied by  certain  compensating  principles  and  doctrines 
which  these  advocates  have  found  it  convenient  to 
ignore.^^  It  must  not  be  forgotten  that  Smith's 
championship  of  individual  initiative  in  production  and 
distribution  represented  what  was  at  that  time  a  justifiable 
reaction  against  "mercantilism" — the  attempt,  largely  suc- 
cessful, of  European  governments,  following  the  break- 
down of  the  medieval  economy,  to  regulate  commerce  in 
their  own  interest,  rather  than  that  of  the  peoples  whom 
they  in  great  degree  controlled.  Under  the  influence  of 
Smith's  doctrine  of  surplus  production  and  free  competi- 
tion. Parliament  through  the  greater  part  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  indeed  beginning  in  the  last  quarter  of  the 
eighteenth,  undid  much  of  the  protective  legislation 
passed  in  the  Middle  Ages  and  put  the  workers  practi- 
cally at  the  mercy  of  the  employing  class,^^  except  in  so 


'"See  Chapter  III  of  the  report  of  the  Archbishops'  Fifth 
Committee  ^f  Inquiry  on  "Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems" 
on  which  the  passage  in  the  present  text  is  partly  based. 

"For  instance,  his  "uncompromising  denunciation  of  the  corn 
laws  and  other  protective  duties,  of  combination  laws  against 
workmen,  and  Settlement  Acts  restricting  the  freedom  of  labor, 
his  proposal  to  tax  ground  rents  and  not  food,  and  his  con- 
demnation of  the  'payment  of  wages  in  truck,'  not  to  mention  his 
emphatic  declaration  on  the  affirmative  side  'that  high  wages  in- 
creased population,  industry,  and  production';  that  'the  dictates 
of  reason'  ought  to  moderate  the  hours  of  labor;  that  'our 
merchants  who  complain  of  the  bad  effect  of  high  wages  say 
nothing  of  the  bad  effect  of  high  profits.'"  ("Christianity  and 
Industrial  Problems,"  p.  41.) 

^Through  "freedom  of  contract,"  associated  with  the  theory 
of  laisses  faire  as  a  reaction  against  governmental  and  gild  regu- 
lations of  employment,  and  coinciding  with  the  presence  in  the 
manufacturing  centers  of  large  numbers  of  "dispossessed"  tillers 
of  the  soil.  Under  this  principle  the  cognate  "law"  of  supply 
and  demand  beat  down  wages,  lengthened  hours,  and  dehuman- 
ized conditions  of  toil  until  the  workers,  learning  wisdom, 
organized  and  enforced  collective  bargaining.  Recent  animus 
against  collective  bargaining  on  the  part  of  the  public  ignores 
these  historical  facts. 


264         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

far  as  the  reform  agitation  and  legislation  that  centered 
around  Lord  Shaftesbury's  crusade  and  the  efforts  of 
later  Christian  Socialists  and  trade  unionists  mitigated 
their  almost  intolerable  condition.*^ 

Adam  Smith's  maxim,  divorced  from  its  qualifying 
context,  was  reenforced  by  Ricardo's  "iron  law  of  wages/' 
which  played  directly  into  the  hands  of  the  capitalist 
class.  "The  laws  regulating  profits  and  wages  were,  like 
all  scientific  laws,  fixed.  The  price  of  labor  depended 
upon  the  supply  of  it  and  the  demand  for  it;  this  market 
price  of  labor  tended  towards  the  natural  price  of  labor — 
that  is,  the  minimum  of  subsistence."  Combined  with 
Malthus's  equally  famous  law  of  population,  Ricardo's 
doctrine  produced  the  "wages  fund  theory"  of  "a  fixed 
fund  devoted  to  wages,  the  amount  available  for  each 
individual  being  simply  the  quotient  of  the  total  sum 
divided  by  the  number  of  recipients.  No  human  effort 
could  alter  this,  for  at  any  time  it  was  a  mere  ratio  of 
capital  to  population.  All  that  human  effort  could  do 
was  to  alter  the  relative  distribution  or  share — that  is,  to 
interfere  between  the  recipients,  and  this  interference 
would  be  unjust f*'^'^  The  result  of  the  wages  fund  theory 
during  the  half-century  between  1820  and  1870  was  "in- 


^¥oY  a  comprehensive  view  of  English  factory  and  general 
industrial  legislation  throughout  the  nineteenth  century  see  F.  A. 
Ogg,  "Economic  Development  of  Modern  Europe"  (New  York, 
1917),  Ch.  XVII,  also  Usher,  "Industrial  History  of  England," 
(Boston,  1919). 

""Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  p.  46;  cf.  John  Kells 
Ingram,  "History  of  Political  Economy,"  pp.  133-4  (New  York, 
1916).  It  should  be  noted  that  Malthus,  like  Adam  Smith  before 
him,  qualified  the  rigor  of  his  doctrine,  especially  in  the  new 
edition  of  his  work  published  in  1803,  so  that  the  crude  struggle 
between  population  and  food — for  which  his  first  edition  (1798) 
had  found  a  solution  in  "famine,  disease,  and  vice  .  .  .  the  sharp 
surgery  of  Providence" — was  viewed  as  modified  by  the  "human 
qualities  of  foresight  and  reason."  The  effect  of  his  work  was 
to  strengthen  the  hands  of  English  wealth  and  privilege  against 
the  poor  and  poor-relief,  since  it  afforded  the  comforting  anodyne 
that  poverty  is  the  result  of  personal  improvidence  and  that 
efforts  to  mitigate  it  will  merely  extend  it. 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  265 

calculably  great  in  staying  social  progress,  in  lulling  the 
conscience  of  the  educated  classes,  and  thereby  encourag- 
ing a  violent  class  antagonism."^^ 

During  this  whole  period  in  England,  at  least,  and  the 
situation  might  be  largely  paralleled  on  the  Continent  and 
in  America,  the  Church  with  slight  exception  raised  no 
voice  of  protest  against  the  new  dehumanized  economics, 
but  acquiesced  in  it  as  the  ultimate  statement  of  a  "scien- 
tific" position,  ill-advised  attempts  to  alter  which  would 
result  not  only  in  the  unsettlement  of  society  but  in 
further  harm  to  the  downtrodden  classes  whom  such 
efforts  would  propose  to  assist. 

5.  Modern  Protests  against  the  Secularization 
OF  Industry 
It  must  not  be  taken  for  granted,  of  course,  that  the 
tendency  to  divorce  religion  and  business  ethics  and  thus 
secularize  industry  went  without  protest.  As  a  matter 
of  fact,  protest  was  recurrent  throughout  the  Middle 
Ages  and  though  less  frequently,  in  the  modern  period 
until  the  present  day.  As  has  already  been  hinted,  vari- 
ous heretical  movements  to  which  attention  has  above 
been  called  found  their  raison  d'etre  not  in  mere  religious 
animus  on  the  part  of  their  supporters  against  "orthodox" 
Christianity  so  much  as  in  the  conviction  widely  held  by 
the  masses  throughout  the  Middle  Ages  that,  despite  its 
theories,  the  Church  of  Rome  was  in  practice  largely  on 
the  side  of  the  governing  or  possessing  classes,  of  which 
its  officers  really  formed  an  influential  part.  The  Fran- 
ciscan movement  in  origin — and  in  its  later  development 


*^Ibid.,  p.  46. 

Important  for  an  understanding  of  the  divorce  between  re- 
ligion and  business  in  the  modern  era  is  a  more  detailed  view  of 
the  historic  development  of  economic  doctrine  than  space  here 
permits.  For  a  fuller  discussion  see  Ingram,  op.  cit.,  and  Gide 
and  Rist,  "History  of  Economic  Doctrines,"  (English  version. 
New  York,  1915).  The  latter  volume  is  especially  valuable  as 
revealing  various  significant  protests  against  the  rise  of  laissez- 
faire. 


266         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

on  the  Spiritual  side — as  well  as  the  Albigensian  and 
Waldensian  movements,  and  the  still  later  protest  voiced 
by  such  groups  as  the  Brethren  of  the  Common  Life, 
v^ere  all  in  considerable  measure  animated  by  the  desire 
to  secure  for  the  dispossessed  and  downtrodden  classes 
a  more  equitable  distribution  of  human  resources,  even 
though  the  protest  assumed  the  form  of  an  entire  rejec- 
tion of  individual  in  favor  of  communal  possessions. 

In  the  Reformation  period,  social  and  economic  forces 
were  not  only  at  work  on  both  sides  of  the  general  con- 
troversy between  the  Roman  and  Protestant  Churches, 
but  inside  the  Protestant  revolution  itself  as  between  the 
privileged  and  the  unprivileged  classes.  Recent  research 
has  made  it  evident  that  the  Protestant  movement  was 
heralded  for  a  time  by  various  popular  parties  as  an  op- 
portunity for  substantial  economic  reform  and  recon- 
struction. Though  some  of  these  reform  demands  and 
programs  were  attributed  to  emperors  and  princes,  they 
really  voiced  the  desire  of  the  common  people,  especially 
the  serfs  and  peasants,  for  a  substantial  amelioration  of 
their  hard  lot.^^  Luther's  ultimate  shift  from  the  popular 
cause  to  the  side  of  the  German  princes  proved  one  of  the 
hardest  blows  to  the  position  of  the  economic  reformers 
who  had  at  first  flocked  to  his  standard.^^     The  suppres- 


*'Not  only  the  famous  twelve  articles  of  the  German  peasants 
but  other  programs,  accredited  to  the  Emperors  Sigismund  and 
Frederick  III,  and  to  Eberlin,  Hipler,  and  Geismayr,  may  be 
found  in  the  text  and  comment  in  Schapiro's  "Social  Reform  and 
the  Reformation." 

**This  rejection  by  Luther  of  the  popular  cause  has  been  noted 
by  various  recent  students :  e.  g.,  "Cambridge  Modern  History," 
II,  p.  272  ff. ;  Willston  "  Walker,  "History  of  the  Christian 
Church"  (New  York,  1918),  Period  VI,  §  II;  T.  C.  Hall,  "Social 
Solutions  in  the  Light  of  Christian  Ethics"  (New  York,  1910)  ; 
Henry  Clay  Vedder,  "The  Reformation  in  Germany"  (New 
York,  1914)  ;  Ernst  B.  Bax,  "Social  Side  of  the  Reformation  in 
Germany"  (New  York,  1899)  ;  Karl  Kautsky,  "Communism  in 
Central  Europe  at  the  Time  of  the  Reformation"  (London, 
1897)  ;  J.  S.  Schapiro,  "Social  Reform  and  the  Reformation." 
The  last  pamed  writer  gives  a  very  clear  statement  not  only  of 
Luther's  position  but  of  the  peasants*  grievances — including  espe- 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  267 

sion  of  the  German  peasants'  revolt  and  of  the  parallel 
movements  in  England  and  France  defeated  temporarily 
the  common  aspirations  for  better  status  and  more 
humane  conditions  of  life  and  labor.  It  should  be  noted 
in  connection  with  these  various  heretical  and  reform 
movements  that  their  motive  was  largely  professedly 
religious,  their  complaints  being  prefaced  by  preambles 
couched  in  scriptural  terms  and  based  upon  gospel  prin- 
ciples, and  that  the  leaders  as  well  as  the  members  were  in 
great  measure  priests  of  the  Church — usually  described 
by  the  governing  classes  as  "renegades/'^^ 

These  various  movements,  on  the  whole,  however, 
failed,  and  the  tendency  towards  a  practically  complete 
separation  of  Christianity  and  business  went  on  in  the 
main  unchecked.  After  the  suppression  of  the  later 
medieval  and  earlier  modern  movements  above  noted 
there  was  scarcely  a  single  protest  on  a  large  scale  against 


cially  protests  against  the  seizure  by  the  nobility  of  the  former 
common  lands,  with  water  and  forest  rights,  and  the  invoking  of 
the  revived  Roman  law  as  warrant  therefor  (the  canon  law 
having  protected  the  agrarian  population),  the  increase  of  im- 
posts, tithes,  and  services  unknown  to  the  Middle  Ages.  Luther's 
initial  rebuke  of  the  princes  for  their  oppressive  conduct  towards 
the  "common  man*'  was  apparently  provoked  by  resentment  at 
their  objections  to  his  preaching,  as  his  later  denunciation  of  the 
peasants  was  largely  the  result  of  pique  at  their  repudiation  of 
his  early  exhortations  to  obey  the  law  and  their  rulers,  even 
though  unjust. 

^'^Passing  reference  should  be  made  to  Anabaptism  as  a  radical 
social  and  economic  movement,  in  some  cases  involving  com- 
munity of  goods,  especially  during  the  Munster  revolt  of  1533-5. 
The  movement  itself  was  due  largely  to  great  popular  misery 
after  the  failure  of  the  Peasants'  Revolt,  which  had  been 
ferociously  suppressed  (Schapiro,  Ch.  Ill),  and  by  reaction  it 
**made  Lutheranism  even  more  positively  than  before  a  party  of 
princely  and  middle  class  sympathies"  and  caused  Luther  to  be 
attached  "more  strongly  to  the  conception  of  princely  and 
magistrate  ruled  churches  as  the  only  guarantee  of  good  order 
and  of  effective  opposition  to  Rome"  (Walker,  "History  of  the 
Christian  Church,"  especially  pp.  z^j,  369,  375).  The  Mennonites 
revived  the  Anabaptist  doctrines  in  modified  and  less  revolution- 
ary form.  For  a  detailed  study  of  the  economic  aspects  of  this 
significant  movement  cf.  Bax,  "Rise  and  Fall  of  the  Anabaptists," 
(published  separately  as  Part  III  of  the  author's  "Social  Side  of 
the  Reformation"). 


268         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

the  prevalent  conception  that  religion  had  nothing  to  do 
with  business/^  until  the  Chartist  movement,  following 
the  English  Reform  Bill  of  1832,  which  aroused  a  con- 
certed protest  by  the  lower  classes,  a  protest  in  which 
many  clergy  and  members  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
non-conforming  bodies  participated.^"^  This  movement, 
which  was  crassly  misunderstood  by  contemporary  "re- 
spectable'' English  society,  based  the  demands  of  what 
we  would  call  the  proletariat  upon  Scripture  and  found 
in  the  emotional  fervor  generated  by  their  movement  a 
substitute  for  the  orthodox  Christianity  of  the  upper  and 
middle  classes,  with  its  antagonism  to  anything  like  real 
democracy.^^ 

The  Chartist  movement  was  followed  by,  and  indeed  in 
large  measure  produced,  the  English  Christian  Socialist 
movement  under  the  leadership  of  Frederick  D.  Maurice, 
Charles  Kingsley,  and  other  members  of  the  Anglican 
Church  and  other  religious  bodies.  **The  name  did  not 
imply  any  coUectivist  economic  theory;  in  Maurice's 
words :  'Anyone  who  recognizes  the  principle  of  coopera- 
tion as  a  stronger  and  truer  principle  than  that  of  compe- 
tition has  a  right  to  the  honor  or  disgrace  of  being  called 


^'^Ineffective  protests  against  the  commercial  tendencies  of 
Puritanism  had  been  made  by  Cranmer,  Latimer,  Laud,  and 
others   (cf.  Noel,  op.  cit,  Ch.  VIII). 

*'For  a  clear  study  of  the  Chartist  movement  as  related  to  the 
English  Churches  reference  should  be  made  to  H.  U.  Faulkner, 
"Chartism  and  the  Churches"  (Columbia  University  Studies  in 
History,  Economics  and  Public  Law,  Vol.  LXXIII,  No.  3 — 
1916)  ;  also  F.  A.  Ogg,  "Social  Progress  in  Contemporary 
Europe,"  Ch.  X  (New  York,  1912)  It  is  significant  that  Chart- 
ism was  born  and  developed  in  the  twelve-year  period  between 
the  Parliamentary  ''act  of  1834,  abolishing  outdoor  relief  to  the 
able-bodied"  and  the  repealing  of  the  corn  laws  in  1846 — "an  in- 
terval ...  in  which  the  laborer  was  thrown  upon  his  own  earn- 
ings, while  the  price  of  bread  was  increased  threefold  by  legal 
enactments  supposed  to  be  for  the  landed  interests."  ("Chris- 
tianity and  Industrial  Problems,"  p.  45.) 

*^Faulkner,  op.  cit.  The  Chartist  substitutes  for  contemporary 
Christianity  were  Chartist  churches,  education,  temperance  and 
"teetotalism,"  an  incipient  feminism,  anti-militarism,  etc.  (Faulk- 
ner). The  true  "inwardness"  of  the  movement  may  be  found 
expressed  in  Carlyle's  essay  on  Chartism. 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  269 

a  Christian  Socialist/  "^^  Though  unsuccessful  and  in  a 
sense  unscientific,  nevertheless  by  concentrating  attention 
upon  the  wrongs  of  the  lower  and  working  classes  gener- 
ally and  by  enlisting  on  their  behalf  the  efforts  of  the 
middle  and  upper  classes,  this  movement  did  much  to 
mitigate  evil  conditions  and  renew  something  like  the 
early  and  medieval  religious  attitude  towards  questions  of 
property  and  industry.  The  Christian  Socialists,  it  is 
true,  attempted  to  establish  "workingmen's  associations" 
of  a  type  different  from  the  nascent  trade  unions,  which 
seemed  to  be  ''exclusively  concerned  with  professional 
matters,  with  the  struggle  for  employment  and  the  ques- 
tion of  wages,  and  altogether  did  not  seem  very  well  fitted 
to  develop  the  spirit  of  sacrifice  and  love  .  .  .  indispen- 
sable for  the  realization"  of  the  Christian  Socialist  ideal. 
Nor  were  these  associations  of  the  type  of  consumers' 
cooperative  societies,  which,  as  inspired  partly  by  Owen, 
appeared  too  little  Christian  and  rather  too  stoical  "to  be 
the  chosen  vessels  of  the  new  dispensation."     The  Chris- 

*°"Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,"  p.  48.  It  should  be 
noted  that  the  Christian  Socialist  movement  was  paralleled  by  a 
Catholic  social  movement  indebted  in  some  ways  to  the  reform 
scheme  advocated  by  Le  Play  (1806-82),  which  had  been  based 
upon  the  attempt  to  revive  the  family  group  as  the  basis  of  social 
progress.  Le  Play  had  laid  it  down  as  a  maxim  that  the  amelio- 
ration of  the  workers,  as  opposed  to  Socialist  doctrine,  could 
come  only  from  above,  i.  e.,  from  the  masters  or  employers. 
The  Catholic  social  movement,  adumbrated  by  Bouchez's  essay 
(1830-40),  and  Lamennais'  "Problem  of  Labor"  (1848),  frankly 
adopted  a  paternalistic  or  hierarchical  plan.  In  general  the 
Catholic  movement  has  been  a  staunch  opponent  of  Socialism, 
which  it  has  interpreted  as  largely  if  not  purely  atheistic,  though 
recently  a  left  wing  has  arisen  under  the  leadership  of  Loesewitz, 
who  "made  the  first  violent  attack  upon  the  so-called  productivity 
theory  of  capital"  (1888),  which  term  he  characterized  as 
"nothing  better  than  a  word  invented  to  hide  the  real  fact, 
namely,  the  appropriation  of  the  fruits  of  labor  by  those  who 
possess  the  instruments  of  labor"  (quoted  by  Gide  and  Rist, 
"History  of  Economic  Doctrines,"  tr.,  R.  Richards,  1915).  An- 
other group  of  radical  Catholics,  the  Sillon,  founded  in  1890,  has 
attempted  the  "reconciliation  of  the  Church  and  democracy  and 
even  republicanism"  and  aims  at  "the  abolition  of  the  wage  earner 
and  his  master."  Though  banned  by  the  Pope  this  "essentially 
syndicalist  movement  is  still  in  existence"  (Ibid.;  cf.  Francesco 
S.  Nitti,  "Catholic  Socialism,"  London,  1908). 


270         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

tian  Socialists,  like  the  earlier  Catholic  social  party, 
turned  later  to  producers'  associations,  which  seemed 
destined  to  produce  fruit  that,  by  the  irony  of  history,  did 
not  come  to  maturity  until  after  Christian  Socialism  had 
ceased  to  be  a  vital  force.  The  later  tendency  of  the 
movement  was  to  lay  decreasing  stress  upon  both  the 
mental  and  moral  education  of  the  workers.  Recently 
Christian  Socialism,  which  "has  survived  its  founders, 
has  been  obliged  to  change  its  program" — having  lost  its 
momentary  interest  in  producers'  associations — and  now 
turns  to  other  forms  of  cooperation,  particularly  stressing 
the  need  of  redistribution  of  land  and  other  private 
property.^^ 

Following  the  Christian  Socialist  movement  there  was 
organized  in  1889  the  Christian  Social  Union,  composed 
of  members  and  leaders  of  the  Church  of  England,  which 
has  endeavored  to  carry  on  a  a  consistent  campaign, 
primarily  educational,  through  local  and  sectional  unions, 
with  such  success  that  the  example  has  been  followed  by 
other  Christian  bodies  in  England.^^     It  would  be  easy  to 


^Continental  movements  allied  to  Christian  Socialism  arose  in 
the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  in  Germany,  in  Switzer- 
land, in  France,  and  in  other  European  countries.  An  attempt  in 
Germany  toward  the  end  of  the  last  century  "to  win  the  adher- 
ence of  the  working  classes  by  endeavoring  to  give  the  Protestant 
churches  a  more  distinctively  socialist  bias"  proved  abortive, 
being  condemned  by  the  Lutheran  Church  and  the  employers, 
and  securing  only  little  support  from  the  Social  Democrats.  In 
France  the  movement  is  weak.  On  the  Christian  Socialist  move- 
ment in  the  country  of  its  origin  cf.  Arthur  W.  Woodworth, 
"Christian  Socialism  in  England"  (New  York,  1903)  ;  Charles 
William  Stubbs,  "Charles  Kingsley  and  the  Christian  Social 
Movement"  (London,  1904)  ;  C.  F.  G.  Masterman,  "Life  of 
Frederick  Denison  Maurice"  (London,  1907)  ;  Noel,  "Socialism 
in  Church  History,"  Ch.  X ;  Moritz  Kauf mann,  "Charles  Kingsley 
and  Christian  Socialism"  (London,  1888)  ;  Ogg,  "Economic  De- 
velopment of  Modern  Europe,*'  Ch.  XXI ;  Gide  and  Rist,  "History 
of  Economic  Doctrines,"  p.  503  ff. 

^^The  threefold  aim  of  the  Christian  Social  Union  is  thus  pre- 
ocnted  in  its  own  words:  "(i)  To  claim  for  the  Christian  law  the 
ultimate  authority  to  rule  social  practice.  (2)  To  study  in  com- 
mon how  to  apply  the  moral  truths  and  principles  of  Christianity 
to  social  ^and  economic  difficulties  of  the  present  time.  (3)  To 
present  Christ  in  practical  life  as  a  living  master  and  king,  the 


HISTORIC  ATTITUDE  OF  THE  CHURCH  271 

exaggerate  the  significance  of  these  movements,  since  they 
hardly  represent  a  generally  accepted  point  of  view  in 
the  Churches,  but  at  least  they  indicate  a  growing  interest 
in  the  Church's  social  task. 

In  the  United  States  the  conviction  has  been  forced 
increasingly  upon  the  Churches  that  Christian  principles 
must  be  applied  to  the  whole  industrial  and  economic 
realm.  The  Congregational,  the  Presbyterian,  the 
Baptist,  the  Episcopal,  the  Methodist,  and  the  Quaker 
Churches  have  for  several  years  had  definitely  organized 
agencies  for  studying  social  problems  and  promoting  an 
understanding  of  them.  The  Commission  on  the  Church 
and  Social  Service  of  the  Federal  Council  of  the 
Churches  of  Christ  in  America  has  for  more  than  a 
decade  been  bringing  Christians  of  various  bodies  to- 
gether in  significant  cooperative  effort  along  these  lines. 
The  so-called  "Social  Creed  of  the  Churches,"  adopted 
by  the  Federal  Council  in  1908,  has  had  widespread  influ- 
ence in  developing  an  appreciation  of  the  Church's  pres- 
ent social  responsibility.  Within  the  past  year  this  state- 
ment has  been  definitely  approved  by  the  International 
Committee  of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
and  the  National  Board  of  the  Young  Women's  Christian 
Association.  The  Industrial  Relations  Department  of 
the  Interchurch  World  Movement,  recently  organized, 
has  also  been  doing  an  important  work. 

Especially  since  the  war  has  there  been  vigorous  think- 
ing on  the  necessity  of  social  reconstruction  along  Chris- 
tian lines.     Foremost  among  the  issues  of  the  day  is  a 


enemy  of  wrong  and  selfishness,  the  power  of  life  and  love." 
The  Christian  Social  Union  was  reproduced  in  this  country  by 
the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  year  1891,  continuing  its 
educational  activities  until  191 1,  when  it  voluntarily  disbanded 
and  handed  over  its  work  to  the  Joint  Commission  on 
Social  Service  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church.  There  has 
also  been  for  some  years  an  Episcopal  Church  Socialist  League, 
and  within  the  past  year  a  voluntary  Church  League  for  In- 
dustrial Democracy  has  also  been  organized  by  members  of  the 
Episcopal  Church. 


272         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

fuller  expression  of  the  principles  of  democracy  in  the 
organization  of  industry.  The  many  recent  pronounce- 
ments by  religious  bodies  on  social  questions,  particularly 
industrial  relations,^^  constitute  unmistakable  evidence  of 
the  new  spirit  that  is  stirring  in  the  Churches. 

"See  Appendix  II  of  this  volume. 


I 


APPENDIX  II 

SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  ON  THE  CHURCH 
AND   INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

The  following  bibliography  aims,  first,  to  present  as 
full  a  list  as  possible  of  the  various  pronouncements  made 
by  religious  bodies  on  the  subject  of  industrial  relations 
since  the  beginning  of  the  war,  and,  second,  to  suggest 
a  few  of  the  more  important  publications  dealing  with 
the  industrial  situation  after  the  war  from  the  standpoint 
of  the  human  values  involved.  The  general  material  on 
the  social  message  of  Christianity,  the  relation  of  the 
Church  to  the  community,  and  movements  for  social 
betterment  is  so  extensive  and  listed  in  so  many  bibliog- 
raphies that  no  attempt  is  here  made  to  present  reading 
lists  on  these  subjects.^  Nor  are  references  given  con- 
cerning the  more  technical  problems  of  industry  or 
economics. 

A.  The  Church  and  Industrial  Reconstruction 

(Pronouncements  by  religious  groups,  of  an  official  or 
semi-official  character.) 

Archbishops'  Fifth  Committee  of  Inquiry.     Christi- 
anity and  Industrial  Problems,  Society  for  Promot- 
ing Christian  Knowledge,  London,  1918,  147  pages. 
Can  also  be  secured  from  Macmillan  Company,  New 
York. 
The  most  comprehensive  and  probably  most  far-reach- 
ing pronouncement  made  by  any  religious  group  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war. 

Canadian  Methodist  Church 

I.     Evangelism  and  Social  Service.     Adopted  at  the 
General  Conference,  1918,  11  pages. 

*For  carefully  selected  references  along  these  lines  sec  "A 
Bibliography  of  Social  Service,"  issued  by  the  Commission  on  the 
Church  and  Social  Service,  105  East  226.  St.,  New  York.    $.15. 


274         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

2.     The-Church,  the  War  and  Patriotism.     Adopted  at 

the  General  Conference,  1918,  10  pages. 
Can  be  secured,  upon  request,  from  518  Wesley  Build- 
ing, Toronto. 

Collegium.     Competition:  A  Study  in  Human  Motive. 
Macmillan  Company,  London,  191 7,  232  pages. 
The  Collegium  is  a  group  in  England  aiming  to  pro- 
mote the  study  of  social  problems  in  the  light  of  Chris- 
tianity. 

Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook 

1.  Christianity  and  Industrial  Problems,  by  Bishop 
F.  J.  McConnell.  Association  Press,  New  York, 
1919.     2.2.  pages. 

A  valuable  brief  treatment  based  on  the  theme  of  the 
supremacy  of  human  values,  and  pointing  out  particularly 
the  Church's  responsibility  for  expressing  its  industrial 
standards  in  its  own  corporate  organization. 

2.  Christian  Aspects  of  Economic  Reconstruction, 
by  Herbert  N.  Shenton.  Association  Press,  New 
York,  1920.     30  pages. 

Insists  that  every  economic  problem  has  an  ethical 
aspect  in  which  the  Church  must  be  vitally  concerned  and 
illustrates  this  thesis  by  analysis  of  present  problems. 

3.  The  New  Home  Mission  of  the  Church,  by  Wil- 
liam P.  Shriver.  Association  Press,  New  York, 
1919.     34  pages. 

An  interpretation  of  home  missions  as  meaning  the 
enterprise  of  securing  a  Christian  social  order  in 
America. 

Congregational  Education  Society;  Department  of 
Social  Service.    Christian  Principles  and  American 
Community  Problems.     14  Beacon  Street,  Boston. 
16  pages. 
A  statement  adopted  at  the  National  Council  of  Con- 
gregational Churches  in  1919. 

Congregational  Churches,  Bay  State  Association  of. 
Report  of  Commission  on  Industrial  Relations. 
19 19.    Pamphlet. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  275 

English  Church  Socialist  League.  Manifesto.  Re- 
printed in  Reconstruction,  January,  1919,  and  in  The 
World  Tomorrow,  January,  1919. 

Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in 
America;  the  Commission  on  the  Church  and 
Social  Service. 

1.  Social  Ideals  of  the  Churches.  Adopted  (in  ex- 
panded form)  at  Quadrennial  Meeting,  Dec.  11, 
1916. 

A  condensed  statement  of  sixteen  social  standards,  the 
so-called  "social  creed  of  the  Churches'*;  has  been  the 
basis  of  many  other  statements  by  religious  bodies. 

2.  The  Church  and  Women  in  Industry.  Message 
for  Labor  Sunday,  1918.     12  pages. 

3.  Democracy  in  Industry.  Message  for  Labor  Sun- 
day, 191 9. 

4.  The  Church  and  Social  Reconstruction.  1919. 
23  pages. 

The  above  can  be  secured  from  105  East  22d  St.,  New 
York. 

5.  To  the  Presidents  of  the  Constituent  Companies  of 
the  U.  S.  Steel  Corporation.  Statement  by  Edward 
T.  Devine,  Dec.  18,  1919,  representing  the  Commis- 
sion on  the  Church  and  Social  Service.  Reprinted 
in  The  Survey,  March  13,  1920,  and  elsewhere. 

An  able  brief  presentation  of  the  Church's  interest  in 
wages,  hours,  and  democracy. 

Fellowship  of  Reconciliation  (English).  Manifesto 
to  the  Labor  Movement.  Reprinted  in  The  World 
Tomorrow,  April,  191 8. 

Friends,  English  Society  of. 

I.     Quakerism  and  Industry.     Being  the  Full  Record 

of  a  Conference  of  Employers,  Chiefly  Members  of 

the  Society  of  Friends,  1918.     North  of  England 

Newspaper  Co.,  Priestgate,  152  pages. 

The  conclusions  of  this  notable  conference  have  been 

reprinted  by  The  Survey,  November  23,  1918,  under  the 


276         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

title,  ''Summary  of  Some  of  the  Conclusions  reached  by 
a  group  of  Twenty  British  Quaker  Employers."  No 
one  who  is  seriously  concerned  about  the  relation  of 
Christian  principles  to  modern  industry  should  fail  to 
read  this  significant  and  widely-quoted  statement. 

2.  Eight  Points.  Reprinted  by  the  Social  Order 
Committee  of  the  American  Friends.  Can  be 
secured  from  304  Arch  Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa» 

3.  Whence  Come  Wars?  First  Report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  War  and  the  Social  Order,  appointed  by 
the  London  Yearly  Meeting.  Headley  Bros., 
London,  1916.     193  pages. 

4.  Facing  the  Facts.  Being  the  Report  of  the  Con- 
ference on  The  Society  of  Friends  and  the  Social 
Order,  held  in  London,  October  19-22,  1916. 
Headley  Bros.,  London.     160  pages. 

5.  The  Next  Step  in  Social  and  Industrial  Recon- 
struction. Being  papers  prepared  for  Meetings  of 
the  Committee  on  War  and  the  Social  Order,  ap- 
pointed by  the  London  Yearly  Meeting.  104  pages. 
Headley  Bros.,  London. 

6.  Cooperation  or  Chaos?  A  handbook  by  Maurice 
L.  Rowntree,  written  at  the  request  of  the  War 
and  Social  Order  Committee  of  the  Society  of 
Friends.  Headley  Bros.,  London,  1918.  108 
pages. 

7.  Personal  Life  and  Society.  Being  the  Report  of 
Commission  III.,  issued  by  the  Committee  of  the 
Peace  Society  of  All  Friends.  136  Bishopsgate, 
London.     26  pages. 

Friends,  Philadelphia  Yearly  Meeting.  A  Message 
from  the  Social  Order  Committee.  1918.  Pamphlet; 
can  be  secured  from  Friends'  Book  Store,  304  Arch 
Street,  Philadelphia,  Pa. 

Interchurch  World  Movement  of  North  America. 
Findings  of  National  Industrial  Conference.  Oct. 
2,  3,  1919.     Printed  in  the  religious  press  generally. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  277 

Interdenominational  Conference  of  (English) 
Social  Service  Unions.  Christian  Social  Recon- 
struction. 8  pages.  Can  be  secured  from  the 
secretary,  92  St.  George  Square,  London,  S.  W. 
I,  I  i/2d. 

Massachusetts  Federation  of  Churches,  Committee 
ON  Industrial  Relations.  A  Statement  of  Prin- 
ciples.    1920.     53  Mt.  Vernon  St.,  Boston. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Church.  Resolutions  Adopted 
by  the  Board  of  Bishops,  May  10,  1919.  Reprinted 
in  The  Survey,  July  5,  1919. 

National  Catholic  War  Council.  Social  Reconstruc- 
tion. A  General  Review  of  the  Problems  and  Sur- 
vey of  Remedies,  Washington,  D.  C,  1919.  24 
pages. 

Northern  Baptist  Convention,  Social  Service  Com- 
mittee.    Principles  of  Social  Reconstruction,  1919. 
,    Pamphlet.     American  Baptist   Publication   Society, 
Philadelphia. 

Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  Joint  Commission  on 
Social  Service. 

1.  Third  Triennial  Report,  submitted  to  the  General 
Convention,  1919. 

Part  II  deals  with  industrial  relations  and  with  the 
historical  attitude  of  the  Church  at  considerable  length. 

2.  Reconstruction   Programs:     A   Bibliography  and 
Digest.     281  Fourth  Avenue,  New  York,  1919. 

Presbyterian  Church  in  the  U.  S.  A.,  Board  of 
Home  Missions.  The  Church  and  Industry.  1920. 
Pamphlet.     156  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 

St.  Andrew,  Brotherhood  of.  Pronouncement  by  the 
National  Council.  Can  be  secured  from  Church 
House,  1 2th  and  Walnut  Sts.,  Philadelphia. 


278         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Unitarian  Association. 

The  Social  Duty  of  Unitarian  Churches.  1919. 
Pamphlet.  American  Unitarian  Association,  25 
Beacon  Street,  Boston. 

Y.  W.  C.  A.  War  Work  Council,  Industrial  Com- 
mittee. Announcement  on  Industrial  Readjust- 
ment. Can  be  secured  from  600  Lexington  Ave., 
New  York. 

Y.  W.  C.  A.  Industrial  Standards.  Association 
Monthly,  March,  1919. 

B.  The  Problem  of  Industrial  Relations 

(Special  attention  is  given  to  so-called  "reconstruction 
programs'*  and  to  publications  dealing  with  the  ethical 
problems  of  industry.) 

Alford^    L.    p.     The    Status    of    Industrial    Relations. 

American  Society  of  Mechanical  Engineers,  29  West 

39th  St.,  New  York.     39  pages. 
An  effective  presentation,   from  an  engineer's  stand- 
point, of  the  need  of  a  more  democratic  industrial  organ- 
ization. 

American  Federation  of  LabOr.  Reconstruction  Pro- 
gram. Printed  in  American  Federationist,  Febru- 
ary, 191 9,  and  in  National  Civic  Federation  Review, 
Jan.  25,  1919. 

American  Labor  Party  of  Greater  New  York.  Plat- 
form. Adopted  January  11-12,  1919.  Can  be 
secured  from  32  Union  Square,  New  York. 

Baker,  Ray  Stannard.     The  New  Industrial  Unrest. 

Doubleday,  Page  and  Co.,  New  York,   1920.     231 

pages. 
A  popular  presentation  of  the  causes  of  present  unrest 
and  an  interesting  narrative  of  several  experiments  in 
democratizing  industrial  relationships. 

British  Labor  Party. 

I.     Labor  and  the  New  Social  Order.     A  Report  on 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  279 

Reconstruction.  Reprinted  in  The  New  Republic, 
as  a  special  supplement,  February  16,  1919.  A 
widely-quoted  document  whose  effect  has  already 
been  far-reaching. 
2.  Resolutions  on  Reconstruction.  Adopted  by  a 
Conference  on  June  26,  1918.  Reprinted  in  The 
Survey,  Aug.  3,  19 18. 

Brown,  William  Adams.  Christianity  and  Industry. 
Lectures  given  to  the  Industrial  Secretaries  of  the  Y. 
W.  C.  A.  Womans  Press,  1919. 

Bureau    of    Industrial    Research.     American    Shop 
Committee  Plans,  465  West  23rd  St.,  New  York. 
A  digest  of  twenty  plans  for  employes'  representation 
through  joint  committees  introduced  by  American  com- 
panies. 

Bureau  of  Industrial  Research.  How  the  Govern- 
ment Handled  Its  Labor  Problems  during  the  War. 
Handbook  of  Federal  War  Labor  Agencies,  1722  H 
St.,  N.  W.,  Washington,  D.  C.     48  pages. 

Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  U.  S.  A.  Reconstruc- 
tion Conference,  Dec.  3-6,  1918.  Summarized  in 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Monthly  Labor 
Review,  January,  1919,  pp.  41-49. 

Chicago  Federation  of  Labor.  Labor's  Fourteen 
Points.    Reprinted  in  The  Survey,  Nov.  30,  191 8. 

Coffin,  Henry  Sloane.     A  More  Christian  Industrial 

Order.     Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1920.    86  pages. 

A  popular  discussion  of  the  Christian  as  producer,  as 

consumer,  as  owner,  as  investor,  as  employer,  and  as 

employe. 

Cole,  G.  H.  D.    Self -Government  in  Industry.    Bell  and 
Sons,    London,    1918.     329    pages.     See    also    his 
World  of  Labor,  Labor  in  Wartime,  Labor  in  the 
Commonwealth. 
Expositions  of  the  principles  of  gild  socialism. 


28o         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Commission  on  Industrial  Relations.     Final  Report. 
Washington,  D.  C,  1915.     448  pages. 
Valuable   summaries   of   conditions   in   American   in- 
dustry, with  special  reference  to  the  problem  of  industrial 
unrest. 

Ellwood,  Charles  A.     The  Social  Problem.     Macmil- 
lan  Co.,  New  York,  1919.     (Revised  edition.)     289 
pages. 
A  study  of  the  historical,  biological,  economic,  and 

spiritual   elements   in   the  social  problem,   with   special 

emphasis  on  the  latter. 

Farmers'  National  Conference  on  Reconstruction 
in  America  and  International  Reconstruction.  A 
Program.  Summarized  in  The  Survey,  January  25, 
1919. 

Filene,  E.  a.  Why  the  Employees  Run  Our  Business. 
System,     December,  1918,  and  January,  1919. 

Fisher,  Irving.  Humanizing  Industry.  Annals  of 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
Philadelphia,  March,  1919. 

An  effective  presentation,  from  an  economist's  point  of 
view,  of  the  need  of  organizing  industry  in  such  a  way 
'as  to  allow  expression  to  men's  normal  instincts. 

Fisher,  Irving.     Economists  in  Public  Service.     Pro- 
ceedings of  the  American  Economic   Association. 
March,  1919. 
An  inquiry  as  to  whether  the  present  profit  system  does 
not  need  modifying  and  as  to  how  larger  expression  of 
the  creative  impulses  can  be  afforded  the  workers. 

French  Labor,  Minimum  Program  of.  Summarized 
in  The  Survey,  January  11,  1919. 

Gantt,  H.  L.     Organizing  for  Work.     Harcourt,  Brace 
and  Howe,  New  York,  1919.     109  pages. 
An  industrial  engineer's  analysis  of  industrial  democ- 
racy as  essential  to  efficiency. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  281 

Garton  Foundation.     Memorandum  on  the  Industrial 
Situation  after  the  War.     London,  October,   1916. 
Reprinted  by  the  U.  S.  Shipping  Board  Emergency 
Fleet  Corporation,  Philadelphia,  1918. 
The  result  of  an  exchange  of  views  between  repre- 
sentatives of  employers  and  employes  in  Great  Britain. 

Hart,  Hornell.  The  New  Social  Order  in  America. 
A  Study  Syllabus.  38  pages.  Helen  S.  Troustine 
Foundation,  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  1918. 

Husslein,     Joseph.     Democratic     Industry.     Kennedy 
and  Sons,  New  York,  1919. 
Emphasizes  the  significance  of  the  medieval  gilds  in 
their  bearing  upon  democratizing  industry  today. 

Inter-Allied  Labor  and  Socialist  Conference. 
Memorandum  of  War  Aims.  Agreed  upon  at  a 
Conference,  London,  February,  1918.  Reprinted 
as  a  supplement  to  The  New  Republic,  March  23, 
1918. 

International  Labor  Organization  of  the  League 
OF  Nations.  New  Labor  Code  of  the  World.  Con^ 
,ventions  and  Recommendations  adopted  by  the 
General  Conference,  1919.  Reprinted  in  The 
Survey,  Dec.  20,  19 19. 

Johnson,  F.  Ernest.      The  New   Spirit  in  Industry, 
Association  Press,  New  York,  1919.     95  pages. 
A  handbook  of  information  on  present-day  labor  move- 
ments, prepared  especially  for  ministers: 

Kellogg,   Paul   U.   and   Gleason,   Arthur.    British 

Labor  and  the  War.    Boni  and  Liveright,  New  York, 

1919.    504  pages. 

A  comprehensive  discussion  of  the  developments   in 

British   labor   circles   during   the   war.      Has    fourteen 

valuable  appendices,  reprinting  significant  statements  of 

various  labor  groups  or  reconstruction  proposals. 

King,  Willford  I.     The  Wealth  and  Income  of  the 


282         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

People  of  the  United  States.     Macmillan  Co.,  New 
York,  191 5.     278  pages. 
Probably  the  best  discussion  of  the  present  distribution 
of  wealth  in  this  country. 

MacIver,  R.  M.     Labor  in  the  Changing  Order.     Button 
and  Co.,  New  York,  1919.     233  pages. 
An  effective  presentation  of  the  changing  attitude  of 
labor  and  its  insistence  on  a  democratic  industrial  order. 

Marot,    Helen.     The    Creative    Impulse   in    Industry. 
Button  and  Co.,  New  York,  1918. 
Argues  ably  that  the  fundamental  solution  of  the  labor 
problem  is  through  stimulating  the  creative  impulse  of  the 
workers. 

National  Association  of  Manufacturers.  Beclara- 
tion  of  Labor  Principles.  Printed  in  American  In- 
dustries, Jan.,  1919.  See  also  How  American  Manu- 
facturers View  Employment  Relations,  Annals  of 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science, 
March,  1919. 

National    Industrial    Conference    Board.     Works 
Councils  in  the  United  States.     Boston,  1919.     135 
pages. 
An  appendix  gives  a  useful  bibliography  on  the  subject. 

National  Industrial  Conference  Board.  Problems 
of  Industrial  Readjustment  in  the  United  States. 
Boston,  February,  1919.     58  page 

National  Women's  Trade  Union  League.  Program 
of  the  Committee  on  Social  and  Industrial  Recon- 
struction.    Printed  in  Life  and  Labor,  March,  19 19. 

Parker,   Carleton.     The   Casual  Laborer.     Harcourt, 
Brace  and  Howe.     New  York,  1920.     199  pages. 
Represents  pioneer  study  in  the  psychological  back- 
ground of  industrial  unrest,  particularly  as  a  result  of  in- 
vestigations among  the  I.  W.  W. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  283 

Property:  Its  Duties  and  Rights.     By  several  writers. 
Macmillan  Co.,  London,  1917. 
A  significant  study  of  the  institution  of  property  from 
the  historical,  the  economic,  and  the  religious  approach. 

Renold,  C.  G.  Workshop  Committees.  The  Survey, 
October  5,  1918. 

Report   of   the   President's    Second   Industrial   Confer- 
ence.    Reprinted  in  The  Survey,  March  27,  1920; 
also  in  The  Monthly  Labor  Review,  U.  S.  Depart- 
ment of  Labor,  April,  1920,  pp.  33-40. 
Particularly  significant  for  its  proposal  for  establishing 

boards  for  the  voluntary  adjustment  of  labor  disputes. 

Rockefeller,  J.  D.,  Jr.     Representation  in  Industry. 

Reprinted  in  The  Forum,  Feb.,  1919,  and  elsewhere. 

Also  privately  circulated  from  26  Broadway,  New 

York. 
Outlines  his  "industrial  creed*'  and  his  plan  for  em- 
ployes' representation. 

Russell,  Bertrand.     Principles  of  Social  Reconstruc- 
tion.   London,  1917.    Published  in  the  United  States 
by  the  Century  Co.,  under  the  title,  Why  Men  Fight. 
An  important  section  insists  that  the  progress  of  civil- 
ization depends  on  the  subordination  of  acquisitive  to 
creative  impulses. 

ScuDDER,  ViDA.  The  Church  and  the  Hour :  Reflections 
of  a  Socialist  Churchwoman.  Dutton  and  Co., 
New  York,  1917.     133  pages. 

Small,  Albion  W.     The  Church  and  Class  Conflicts. 
American  Journal  of  Sociology,  March,  1919. 
Appeals  to  the  Churches  to  come  to  realities  in  dealing 
with  the  present  economic  situation. 

Albion  W.  Small.  Christianity  and  Industry,  American 
Journal  of  Sociology,  May,  1920. 


;284         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

Social  Democratic  League  of  America.  A  Program 
of  Social  Reconstruction.    2yj  Broadway,  N.  Y. 

Sparkes^  Malcolm.  A  Memorandum  on  Self-Govern- 
ment  in  Industry  together  with  a  Draft  for  a  Build- 
ers' National  Industrial  Parliament.  Reviewed  in  U. 
S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics.  Monthly  Labor 
Review,  October,  1918,  pp.  54-61. 

Tawney,  R.  H.  The  Sickness  of  an  Acquisitive  Society. 
Allen  and  Unwin,  London,  1920.  86  pages. 
A  stimulating  analysis  of  the  contrast  between  **an 
acquisitive  society  organized  around  the  promoting  of 
individual  wealth-getting"  and  a  "functional  society," 
aiming  to  make  wealth  contingent  upon  the  discharge  of 
social  obligations. 

Tead,  Ordway.  Instincts  in  Industry.  Houghton  Mif- 
flin Co.,  Boston,  1918.  * 
Insists  that  industry  at  present  represses  normal  in- 
stincts. Urges  experimentation  in  the  assumption  of 
greater  control  by  workers  and  acquainting  them  with 
the  significance  of  industrial  processes. 

Ward,  Harry  F,     The  New  Social  Order:  Principles 
and  Programs.     Macmillan  Co.,  New  York,  1919. 
384  pages. 
A  thoroughgoing  discussion  of  what  this  well-known 
student  of  the  labor  movement  considers  the  essential  ele- 
ments  in   a   Christian   social   order,   equality,   universal 
service,  the  supremacy  of  personality,  and  solidarity.  Has 
a  valuable  discussion  of  various  programs  proposed,  with 
a  significant  chapter  on  the  Russian  Soviet  Republic. 

Ward^  Harry  F.     The  Labor  Movement.     Sturgis  and 
Walton,  New  York,  191 7.     199  pages. 
An  analysis  of  the  significance  of  various  phases  of  the 
labor  movement. 

Ward^  Harry  F.     The  Gospel  for  a  World  of  Work. 
Missionary  Education  Movement,  New  York,  1918. 
260  pages. 
A  mission  study  book  on  industrial  conditions. 


SELECTED  BIBLIOGRAPHY  285 

Weeks,  Estella  T.,  Editor.     Industrial  Notebook.     In 
loose-leaf  form.     Limited  number  for  free  distribu- 
tion.    National  Board,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  New  York. 
Contains  valuable   information   concerning  industrial 
reconstruction. 

Weeks,  Estella  T.     Reconstruction  Programs :  A  Com- 
parative Study  of  their  Content  and  of  the  View- 
points   of    the    Issuing    Organizations.      Womans 
Press,  New  York,  1919.     95  pages. 
A   helpful   analysis   of   leading   declarations   on    the 

subject. 

Reconstruction  Committee;  Sub-Committee  on  Re- 
lations between  Employer  and  Employed  (Eng- 
lish). 
"Whitley  Reports." 

1.  Interim  Report  on  joint  Standing  Industrial  Coun- 
cils. London,  1917.  Reprinted  by  the  U.  S. 
Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics,  Bulletin  No.  237,  pp. 
229-237. 

2.  Second  Report  on  Joint  Standing  Industrial  Coun- 
cils. London,  1918.  Reprinted  in  U.  S.  Bureau 
of  Labor  Statistics  Monthly  Labor  Review,  Sep- 
tember, 1918,  pp.  53-58. 

3.  Supplementary  Report  on  Works  Committees. 
London,  1918.  Reprinted  in  the  U.  S.  Bureau  of 
Labor  Statistics  Monthly  Labor  Review,  June, 
1918.     pp.  163-165. 

4.  Memorandum  by  the  Minister  of  Reconstruction 
and  the  Minister  of  Labor  on  Industrial  Councils 

and  Trade  Boards.  London,  1918.  Reprinted  in 
U.  S.  Bureau  of  Labor  Statistics  Monthly  Labor 
Review,  September,  1918. 

WoLF^  R.  B.     Individuality.     The  Survey,  February  i, 
1919.     Also  in  The  American  Economic  Review, 
March,  1919. 
Sets  forth  results  of  striking  experiments  made  by  the 


286        INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

manager  of  a  large  pulp  mill  to  elicit  initiative  and  call 
into  play  the  creative  impulses  of  the  workers. 

WoLFE^  A.  B.     Works  Committees  and  Joint  Industrial 
Councils.     Philadelphia,  1919.     254  pages.     Can  be 
secured  from  the  Industrial  Relations  Division  of  the 
Emergency    Fleet    Corporation,    U.     S.    Shipping 
Board,  for  w^hich  the  report  was  prepared. 
Describes  English  and  American  experience  in  indus- 
trial  relations   under  wartime   conditions,   with   special 
reference  to  recommendations  of  the  Whitley  Reports. 
A  useful  bibliography  is  appended. 


APPENDIX  III 

THE   COMMITTEE   ON   THE   WAR   AND   THE 
RELIGIOUS  OUTLOOK  AND  ITS  WORK 

A  brief  statement  concerning  the  history  and  the  work 
of  the  Committee  on  the  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook, 
by  which  this  volume  was  prepared  as  one  in  a  series  of 
reports,  may  be  of  interest. 

The  Committee  was  constituted,  while  the  war  was 
still  in  progress,  by  the  joint  action  of  the  Federal  Council 
of  the  Churches  of  Christ  in  America  and  the  General 
War-Time  Commission  of  the  Churches  and  was  an 
expression  of  the  conviction  that  the  war  had  laid  upon 
the  Churches  the  duty  of  the  most  thorough  self-examina- 
tion. The  Committee  consists  of  a  small  group  of 
representative  men  and  women  of  the  various  Protestant 
Churches,  appointed  "to  consider  the  state  of  religion  as 
revealed  or  affected  by  the  war,  with  special  reference  to 
the  duty  and  opportunity  of  the  Churches,  and  to  prepare 
these  findings  for  submission  to  the  Churches."  While 
created  through  the  initiative  of  the  Federal  Council  and 
the  General  War-Time  Commission,  it  was  given  entire 
freedom  to  act  according  to  its  own  judgment  and  was 
empowered  to  add  to  its  number. 

The  Committee  was  originally  organized  with  President 
Henry  Churchill  King  as  its  Chairman  and  Professor 
William  Adams  Brown  as  Vice-Chairman.  On  account 
of  prolonged  absence  in  Europe,  President  King  was  com- 
pelled to  resign  the  chairmanship  in  the  spring  of  1919 
and  Professor  Brown  became  the  Chairman  of  the  group, 
with  President  King  and  Rev.  Charles  W.  Gilkey  as 
Vice-Chairmen.  Rev.  Samuel  McCrea  Cavert  was 
chosen  to  serve  as  Secretary  of  the  Committee  and  Rev. 
Angus   Dun   was   an   Associate   Secretary    for   several 

287 


288         INDUSTRIAL  RECONSTRUCTION 

months.  The  membership  of  the  Committee  is  indicated 
in  the  Editorial  Preface  of  this  volume. 

The  peculiar  significance  of  the  Committee  lies  in  the 
fact  that  it  was  appointed  to  do  nothing  except  to  study. 
It  has  proceeded  on  the  assumption  that  the  Churches 
need  first  of  all  to  do  serious  thinking  and  to  think 
together. 

When  the  Committee  began  its  work  four  main  lines 
of  inquiry  suggested  themselves  as  of  chief  importance: 

1.  What  effect  has  the  war  had  upon  the  personal  re- 
ligious experience  ?  How  far  has  it  reenf orced,  how  far 
altered  the  existing  type  of  religious  life  and  thought? 

2.  What  effect  has  the  war  had  upon  the  organized 
Christian  Church?  What  changes,  if  any,  are. called  for 
in  its  spirit  and  activities  ? 

3.  What  effect  has  the  war  had  upon  Christian  teach- 
ing? What  changes,  if  any,  are  called  for  in  the  content 
or  method  of  the  Church's  teaching? 

4.  What  effect  has  the  war  had  upon  the  duty  of  the 
Church  with  reference  to  social  problems  of  the  time? 
What  reconstructions  are  needed  to  make  our  social 
order  more  Christian  ? 

As  the  Committee  proceeded  with  these  inquiries,  sev- 
eral distinct  fields  of  investigation  emerged  and  led  the 
Committee  to  adopt  the  plan  of  bringing  out  a  group 
of  reports  instead  of  a  single  volume.  Two  of  these 
studies  have  already  appeared.  The  first  was  entitled 
"Religion  among  American  Men:  as  Revealed  by  a 
Study  of  Conditions  in  the  Army,"  and  dealt  with  the 
lessons  learned  from  the  experience  of  chaplains  and 
other  religious  workers  in  the  army.  The  second  volume, 
entitled  "The  Missionary  Outlook  in  the  Light  of  the 
War,"  considered  the  bearing  of  the  new  international 
situation  on  the  significance,  the  policies  and  the  oppor- 
tunities of  foreign  missions.  The  present  study  is  con- 
cerned with  the  Church  and  Industrial  Reconstruction. 
Two  forthcoming  reports  will  deal  with  the  Teaching 


THE  RELIGIOUS  OUTLOOK  289 

Work  of  the  Church  in  the  Light  of  the  Present  Situation 
and  Principles  of  Christian  Unity. 

Earlier  preliminary  publications  of  the  Committee  con- 
sisted of  a  comprehensive  bibliography  on  the  War  and 
Religion  and  a  series  of  pamphlets  under  the  general 
heading  "The  Religious  Outlook,"  of  which  the  following 
numbers  have  thus  far  appeared : 

"The  War  and  the  Religious  Outlook,"  by  Dr.  Robert 
E.  Speer ;  "Christian  Principles  Essential  to  a  New  World 
Order,"  by  President  W.  H,  P.  Faunce;  "The  Church's 
Message  to  the  Nation,"  by  Professor  Harry  Emerson 
Fosdick;  "Christian  Principles  and  Industrial  Recon- 
struction," by  Bishop  Francis  J.  McConnell ;  "The  Church 
and  Religious  Education,"  by  President  William  Douglas 
Mackenzie;  "The  New  Home  Mission  of  the  Church," 
by  Dr.  William  P.  Shriver;  "Christian  Aspects  of 
Economic  Reconstruction,"  by  Professor  Herbert  N. 
Shenton;  "The  War  and  the  Woman  Point  of  View," 
by  Rhoda  E.  McCulloch;  "The  Local  Church  after  the 
War,"  by  Rev.  Charles  W.  Gilkey. 

Our  special  thanks  are  due  to  Association  Press,  which 
has  assumed  responsibility  for  issuing  the  publications 
of  the  Committee. 


INDEX 


American  Federation  of  Labor, 
Reconstruction  Program  of,  78. 

Anglican  Report,  cited,  3,  51, 65, 
79, 105-106, 137, 140-141, 148, 
149. 

Arbitration  of  disputes,  154-155. 

Archbishops'  Fifth  Committee  of 
Inquiry;  see  Anglican  Report. 

Archbishops'  Third  Committee 
of  Inquiry,  cited,  237. 

Army,  evidence  of,  concerning 
religion,  219-220. 

Autocratic  control,  62-63,  74-76, 
95,  164-165;  see  also  Indus- 
trial democracy. 

Baker,  Ray  Stannard,  cited,  162, 

195. 
Baldwin,  William  H.,   referred 

to,  194. 
British  Labor  Party,  quoted,  77, 

79,  118,  139,224. 
British  Quakers;  see  Quaker  em- 
ployers. 
Brotherhood,  Christian  teaching 

of,  II,  17-23,  29-30;  present 

denials  of,  58-68. 
Building     Industry,     Industrial 

Council  of,  181-182,  202. 

Cabot,  Charles,  referred  to,  198' 
Cadbury,  George,  Jr.,  cited,  164. 
Calkins,  Raymond,  cited,  215. 
Canadian  Methodists,  cited,  79. 
Capital,  the  rights  of,  176;  see 
also  Capitalism  and  Property. 
Capitalism,  81-107. 


Casual  labor,  evils  of,  40;  reme- 
dies for,  136-137,  224. 
Catholic  War  Council,  cited,  78, 

94. 

Charity,  not  the  chief  virtue, 
28-29. 

Child  labor,  51-53,  i47-i49- 

Children's  Bureau,  investigation 
cited,  44. 

Christianity,  its  interest  in  in- 
dustrial problems,  1-4;  its  ap- 
proach to  industrial  problems, 
4-7,  83,  113-114;  its  social 
ideal,  9-33;  its  practicability 
in  industry,  32,  81,  113-117; 
its  method  of  social  better- 
ment, 108-13 1. 

Christian  social  order,  meaning 
of  a,  33. 

Christians,  responsibility  of,  in 
industry,  188-210. 

Church,  challenged  by  indus- 
trial situation,  1-3,  39,  42,  46; 
significance  of,  in  society, 
20  n.;  present  criticisms  of, 
21 1-2 12;  part  in  social  better- 
ment, 212-238;  as  employer, 
235-236;  as  investor,  236;  to 
incarnate  the  social  ideal,  233- 
238;  historic  attitude  to  eco- 
nomic questions,  239-272. 

Citizens,  Christians  as,  208-210. 

Class  consciousness,  relation  of, 
to  brotherhood,  20-22,  61-62. 

Class  struggle,  58-60,  62,  70,  89, 
92-93,  104-105,  125-127. 

**Closed  shop,"  153. 


291 


292 


INDEX 


Coe,  George  A.,  quoted,  206. 

Cohen,  Julius  H.,  cited,  loi. 

Cole,  G.  H.  D.,  quoted,  177. 

Collective  bargaining,  153-157; 
see  also  Unions. 

Colorado  Fuel  and  Iron  Co., 
referred  to,  161. 

Commission  on  Industrial  Rela- 
tions, report  of,  cited,  41,  42, 
43,  44,  64,  73,  129. 

Commission  on  the  Church  and 
Social  Service;  see  Social  Serv- 
ice Commission. 

Committee  on  the  War  and  the 
Religious  Outlook,  referred  to, 
220,  221,  229,  235,  236,  287- 
289. 

Commons  and  Andrews,  cited, 
40,  48,  49,  50,  147. 

Communism,  86. 

Community  as  a  party  to  indus- 
try, 92,  168-170;  see  also  In- 
dustrial democracy.  ^ 

Common  ownership;  see  Social 
ownership*    >- 

Competition,  ethical  aspects  of, 
18,  23,  59,  95-103. 

Consumer,  the  Christian  as,  206- 
208. 

Consumers*  League,  141, 142,207. 

Contracts,  violation  of,  by 
imions,  204-205. 

Control  of  industry;  5e«  Auto- 
cratic control;  aiso  Industrial 
democracy. 

Cooperation;  see  Industrial  de- 
mocracy. 

Cooperative  Movement,  177- 
178  n. 

Creative  impulse  in  industry,  22, 
31,  38,  93-94,  164-165. 

Cross  as  symbol  of  Christian 
way  of  life,  23,  120,  187. 

Democracy,  Christian  emphasis 
on,  16-17,  1 19-120;  in  indus- 
try; see  Industrial  democracy. 

Dennison  Mfg.  Co.,  referred  to, 
160. 

Devine,  E.  T.,  quoted,  49. 


Dewey,  John,  quoted,  197. 
Distribution,  of   wealth,  63-68, 

87-88;  of  income,   65-66;   of 

profits,  see  Profit-sharing. 
Drummond,  Henry,  referred  to, 

18  n. 
Dutchess  Bleachery,  referred  to, 

162,  167. 

Economic  conditions,  need  for 
knowledge  of,  by  the  Church, 
223-225;  historic  attitude  of 
Church  toward,  239-272. 

Economic  determinism,  5,  82. 

Education,  Christian  emphasis 
on,  123;  need  for,  in  coopera- 
tion, 1 1 7-1 19;  of  the  workers, 
163-164;  religious,  218-222. 

Eight-hour  day,  48,  143-146. 

Ellwood,  C.  A.,  quoted,  66,  171. 

Employe,  the  Christian  as,  201- 
206. 

Employer,  the  Christian  as,  192- 
196. 

Employes*  representation,  157^ 
165,  194. 

Endicott- Johnson  Co.,  referred 
to,  159. 

Environment,  effect  of,  on  per- 
sonality, 5-6,  15,  22,  186,  221. 

Equality,  Christian  view  of,  216- 
218. 

Evolution,  mutual  aid  as  a  factor 
in,  18  n. 

Experiment,  need  of,  in  indus- 
trial organization,  182. 

Extravagance,  condemned  by 
Christianity,  207-208. 

Factory  production,  38,  83;  see 

also  Impersonal  view  of  labor. 
Faith,    Christian    emphasis   on, 

11-12,      32,      113-115,      213; 

present  lack  of,  in  industry, 

115-117. 
Family  spirit  as  the  social  ideal, 

9,  17. 
Federal    Council    of    Churches, 
231;   see   also   Social   Service 
Commission. 


INDEX 


293 


Feudalism,  ethical  aspects  of,  82. 

Filene  Cooperative  Association, 
163. 

Filene,  E.  A.,  quoted,  142. 

Fisher,  Irving,  quoted,  47. 

Ford  Motor  Co.,  referred  to,  142. 

Foreign  missions,  social  signifi- 
cance of,  175. 

Forum,  church,  value  of,  229- 
230. 

Fraternal  delegates  to  labor 
unions,  231-232. 

Freedom,  Christian  emphasis  on, 
1 19-12 1 ;  of  workers,  87-88, 
90-91 ;  essential  to  social  pro- 
gress, 129-13 I. 

Friends,  British,  referred  to, 
62,  200;  see  also  Quaker  em- 
ployers. 

Gantt,  H.  L.,  quoted,  76,  165, 

183. 
Gamer  Print  Works,  referred  to, 

168. 
Carton  Foundation,  quoted,  93. 
Growth,  as  the  Christian  method 

of  progress,  117-119,  177-182. 
Guild  Socialism,  176-177. 

Hart,  Homell,  cited,  41. 

Hart,  Schaffner,  and  Ma:rx,  re- 
ferred to,  162. 

Hichens,  W.  L.,  quoted,  184. 

"Historic  Attitude  of  the  Church 
to  Economic  Questions,  The," 
239-272. 

Hobhouse,  Prof.,  quoted,  87-89. 

Holmes,  Justice,  quoted,  130. 

Hours  of  work,  46-50,  55,  143- 
147. 

Human  values,  supremacy  of,  14, 
37;  see  also  Personality,  Chris- 
tian emphasis  on. 

Hunter,  Robert,  cited,  68,  128. 

Husslein,  Jos.,  quoted,  69,  70. 


39,  205;  see  a/50  Factory  pro- 
duction. 

Income,  42-46,  65-66,  138-143. 

Independent  Labor  Party,  79. 

Individualism,  economic,  171- 
173. 

Individualistic  ethics,  inade- 
quacy of,  34-35,  189-190. 

Industrial  Conference,  Pres- 
ident's Second,  154,  156. 

Industrial  conflict;  see  Class 
struggle;  a/50  Strikes. 

Industrial  democracy,  16-17, 62- 
63»  74-76,  152-165,  195-196. 

Industrial  problems.  Christian 
interest  in,  1-4;  Christian 
approach  to,  4-7. 

Industrial  system,  ethical  char- 
acter of,  83-107;  meaning  of 
-  a,  81-82. 

Industry  as  a  social  service,  25, 
70,  103,  192;  see  also  Service, 
Christian  emphasis  on. 

Interchurch  World  Movement, 
referred  to,  228. 

Interest,  validity  of,  25-26,  73, 

197. 
International    Labor    Congress, 

143. 
Investor,  the  Christian  as^  196- 

201. 
I.  W.  W.,  referred  to,  21. 

Jesus,  social  teaching  of,  9-33, 
109-118,  214-215;  see  also 
Christianity. 

Justice,  social,  16,  28-29,  92. 

Kidd,  Benjamin,  referred  to,  219. 
King,  W.  I.,  cited,  44,  63-65,  67. 
King,  W.  L.  Mackenzie,  cited, 

37,  195. 
Kingdom  of  God,  7,  9-12,  18-19, 

24,  31,  117,  213-214. 
Kropotkin,  P.,  referred  to,  18  n. 


Immortality,  social  significance 

of  belief  in,  6. 
Impersonal  view  of  labor,  36- 


Labor,  not  a  commodity,  36-39, 

66 ;  duty  of,  see  Employe. 
Labor  legislation;  see  L^slation. 


294 


INDEX 


Labor  movement,  spiritual  vsig- 

nificance  of,  1-2,  74-80,   iii, 

224-225. 
Labor  Temple,  referred  to,  235. 
Labor  unions,  see  Unions. 
LaisseZ'fairej    inconsistent    with 

Christianity,  172-180. 
Lansbury,  George,  cited,  62. 
Lauck,  W.  J.,  cited,  45,  142. 
Lauck  and  Sydenstricker,  cited, 

41 »  42,  44. 
Legislation,  labor,   55-56,    122- 

124,  141,  146,  I47-I49,   150- 

151,  208-210. 
Leisure,  importance  of,  46-50. 
Leisure  class,  inconsistent  with 

Christianity,  73-74. 
Leverhulme,   Lord,  quoted,  94, 

144,  167. 
Living  wage,  43-44»  45,  46,  138- 

141,  150-151. 
Limitation  of  output,  68,  70,  94, 

202-203. 
Love,  the  ruling  motive,  11,  18- 

19,    23;    the    way    of    social 

progress,  108-113. 
Luxuries,  manufacture  of,  ques- 
tioned, 72-73,  207-208. 

McConnell,    Francis    J.,    cited, 

236. 
Machinery,    effect    on    human 

values,  38-39. 
Mackenzie,  W.  D.,  cited,  221. 
Means  of  production,  ownership 

of,    30,    60,    87-88,    104-105, 

172-177. 
Merchants'  Association  of  N.  Y., 

quoted,  140,  192. 
Method    of    social    betterment, 

108-13 1. 
Mill,  John  Stuart,  quoted,  185. 
Milton,  John,  quoted,  130. 
Minimum  wage,  see  Living  wage. 
Ministers,  need  for  training  in 

social  sciences,  221-222. 
Moral  factor  in  industrial  prob- 
lems, 4-5,  et  passim. 
Motive,  Christian  emphasis  on, 
•  109-111;    in    industry,     now 


wrong,  103-107;  need  for  new, 
182-187. 

Nasmyth,  George,  cited,  18  n. 

National  Catholic  War  Council; 
see  Catholic. 

National  Child  Labor  Commit- 
tee, cited,  52,  53. 

National  Consumers'  League; 
see  Consumers'  League. 

Nationalism,  relation  of,  to 
brotherhood,  20-22. 

Natural  resources,  ownership  of, 
60,  87-88,  104-105,  173. 

Negroes,  attitude  of  organized 
labor  to,  61,  204. 

Night  work  for  women,  56,  150. 

Obstacles  to  Christian  princi- 
ples in  industry,  112,  121- 
126,  184-186. 

Organization  of  labor,  see 
Unions. 

Ownership,   see  Means  of  pro- 
,    duction;      Property;      Social 
ownership. 

Pacifism,  125. 

Personality,  Christian  emphasis 
on  value  of,  11,  12-17,  ^7t  31; 
dwarfing  of,  in  modem  indus- 
try, 39-58. 

Pittsburgh  Survey,  referred  to, 
197. 

Poverty,  Christian  view  of,  43; 
causes  of,  68,  148. 

Private  property,  see  Property. 

Production,  limitation  of,  68,  70, 
94,  202-203;  incentives  to, 
183-186. 

Profits,  Christian  attitude  to- 
ward, 25-26,  37,  69-70,  73,  75, 
102-107;  sharing  of,  166-168. 

Profiteering,  69,  186. 

Property,  Christian  view  of,  26- 
29,  67;  validity  of  private,  85- 
90,  174-175;  see  also  Means 
of  production. 

Public  ownership;  see  Social 
ownership. 


INDEX 


295 


Quaker  employers,  quoted,  40, 
135,  141-142,  153,  164,  169; 
referred  to,  190,  194,  228. 

Race,  relation  of,  to  brother- 
hood, 20-21. 

Religious  education,  social  view 
of,  218-222. 

Repentance,  Christian  emphasis 
on,  5,  10,  218. 

Representation  in  industry,  see 
Employes'  representation. 

Research,  need  for,  by  churches, 
225-229. 

Rest  day  legislation,  49-50,  146- 

147. 
Rockefeller,  J.  D.,  Jr.,  quoted, 

37.. 

Ruskin,  John,  quoted,  143. 

Sacrifice,  demanded  of  Chris- 
tians, 190,  196,  201. 

"Scientific  management,"  164- 
165. 

Scudder,  Vida,  quoted,  178-179, 
189,  199. 

Seager,  H.  R.,  quoted,  236. 

Self-interest,  unchristian  em- 
phasis on,  68-71,  102-107,  191. 

Service,  Christian  emphasis  on, 
II,  23-31;  present  failure  to 
recognize,  68-76;  the  needed 
motive  in  industry,  182-187. 

Shenton,  H.  N.,  cited,  229. 

Shop  committees,  see  Employes' 
representation. 

Shriver,  W.  P.,  cited,  235. 

Simplicity  in  living,  commended 
to  Christians,  207-208. 

Sin,  social  meaning  of,  119,  217, 
218. 

Slavery,  a  denial  of  Christianity, 
13,  61;  see  also  "Wage  slav- 
ery." 

Small,  A.  W.,  quoted,  227-228. 

Smillie,  Robert,  quoted,  202-203. 

Smith,  Adam,  referred  to,  10 1. 

Social  control,  171-177. 

Social  ownership,  172-180. 


Social  Service  Commission,  cited, 

128,  172-173,  230;  importance 

of,  227-228,  232-233. 
Socialism,  84,  171-182,  196. 
Solidarity,    human,    18-20;    see 

also  Brotherhood. 
Spargo,  John,  quoted,  174. 
Sparkes,  Malcolm,  cited,  181, 202. 
Steel  industry,  see  U.  S.   Steel 

Corporation. 
Stewardship,  Christian,  26-29. 
Stockholders,    responsibility   of, 

see  Investor. 
Streightoff,  F.  H.,  cited,  43  n. 
Strikes,  justification  of,  125-127, 

153-155. 
Suffering,  significance  of ,  1 19-120. 
Sunday  rest,  49-50,  146-147. 
Surplus  profits,  distribution  of, 

166-170. 

Tawney,  R.  H.,  quoted,  71,  183. 
Taxation,  169-170. 
Theological    seminaries,    social 

teaching  in,  221-222. 
Trade  unions;  see  Unions, 

Unchristian  aspects  of  industrial 

order,  34-80. 
Unemployment,   extent  of,   39- 

42;    prevention   of,    134-137; 

insurance  against,  137-138. 
Unions,  labor,  153-159,  202,  204, 

205. 
U.  S.  Department  of  Education, 

cited,  149. 
U.    S.    Department    of    Labor, 

cited,  41,  44,  45,  48,  145. 
U.  S.  Employment  Service,  137. 
U.    S.    Public    Health    Service, 

cited,   145-146. 
U.    S.    Steel    Corporation,    con- 
ditions in,  48-49,  66,  198. 
Unity   of   mankind,    17-19;   see 

also  Brotherhood. 
Unskilled     labor,     attitude     of 

unions  toward,  60,  204. 

Violence,       Christian       protest 
against,  127-129. 


296 


INDEX 


"Wage  slavery,"  93. 

Wage  system,  ethical  character 

of,  90-95,  181-182. 
Wages,  42-46,  139-143;  see  also 

Living  wage. 
War,  between  nations,  116,  125- 

127;  between  classes,  see  Class 

struggle, 
War  Labor  Board,  cited,  45,  48, 

154. 
Ward,  Harry  F.,  cited,  216. 
Wealth,  Jesus'  attitude  toward, 


24-31;  distribution  of,  63-68, 
87-88. 

Webb,  Sidney,  quoted,  179. 

Wells,  H.  G.,  quoted,  179. 

Whitley  Committee,  158. 

Women  in  industry,  53-57,  149- 
152,  204. 

Woolman,  John,  quoted,  189, 208. 

Workers'  Educational  Associa- 
tion, 164. 

Works  Councils,  see  Employes' 
representation. 


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